The Girl Next Door
by LittleGee
Summary: At first, it had seemed like a good idea, but Korbyn Radner had never been a 'sorority' kind of girl. Her first years of college had been hell. When her brother and his wife moved near to the college the summer before senior year, Korbie was out of Zeta Tau and living with Mac. But she sure never expected Braxton University's party central to move next door a few months later.
1. Best Friends For Never

**A/N- Hello there, one and all. I know that **_**Neighbors **_**(or, where I'm from, **_**Bad Neighbours**_**) has an absolutely teeny-tiny category, but this fic is an idea that I've had bubbling around my head for a while, so I'm saying 'fuck it' and posting it up! I'm trying a new angle here: little to no romance. Will there be hints? You'll just have to wait and see. By the way, I'm English, not American. If I fuck up any words, or put in something typically English, just let me know!**

* * *

**Chapter One- Best Friends For Never**

"Britney Applegate?"

"Here."

"Carson Ashwell?"

"Yeah."

"Lena Bailey?"

"Yup."

"Pete Carter?"

"Yeah."

"Dana Fargate?"

"Here, sir."

"Andrew Jameson?"

"I'm here."

"Michael King?"

"Yo."

"Tommy Palmer?"

"Present."

"NERD!"

"Michael, for God's sake, boy, grow up! You're twenty-one! Korbyn Radner? ...Korbyn? ...Korbie!"

I started, looking blearily up from engraving a star on my desk with my compass. "Hm? What? Oh! Er, sorry, Professor Bright. Here."

"Thank you so much for returning to us, Korbie," Professor Bright said dryly, rolling his eyes. "You won't be building too many stable houses in the future if you can't even pay attention to Attendance."

"Sorry sir," I apologized again, stifling a yawn. "My brother's baby girl is teething; she kept me up most of the night with her crying."

* * *

I had to give it to her: Stella had a serious set of lungs. I'd gone to bed just after 10. Stella had woken up at 12 and started screaming, waking up Mac and Kelly, and subsequently me. It was now coming up for half 2, and she really was showing no signs of letting up.

I was bundled up under my duvet, hugging my plushie Spider-Man with my Beats clamped over my ears in an attempt to muffle the noise. But apparently, those headphones weren't as soundproof as I thought because I could still. Hear. Fucking. Crying.

"Oh my God!" I grumbled exasperatedly, pushing away the duvet and pulling off the headphones, throwing them down on the carpet in irritation. "I am never having kids." I grabbed my robe and shrugged it on over my pajamas. Not bothering to do it up, I stumbled out of my room and across the hallway into Stella's.

Mac and Kelly were already in there - they had been since Stella had first started crying. Kelly looked completely harassed. She had a still-screaming Stella in her arms, jiggling her daughter up and down in an attempt to calm her. It really was not working.

Mac, meanwhile, was just being a total man: sitting in the chair by the window, looking panicked at Stella, then running his hands through his hair, looking at Kelly, then looking freaked out. Specifically in that order.

"Man, what the fuck did you give that kid before you put her to bed?" I yawned, stretching my arms above my head and trying not to flash my brother the tattoo of a dream-catcher on my hip that he'd disapproved of for the last three years. Mac was pretty chill with nearly everything - I mean, the man smoked weed in the house, for fuck sake - but he hated my tattoos. I think it was because it reminded him that I was now twenty-one, an adult, and not just his baby sister anymore. He especially hated the skull I had on my left shoulder.

"Milk!" he retorted, folding his arms. "We gave her fucking breast milk!"

"I think she's ill!" Kelly cried in her Australian accent. "She never...she never cries like this! What if it's meningitis, or septicemia...or chicken pox!"

"Okay, first, there is a _serious _difference between meningitis and septicemia and the chicken pox," I reminded her. "And second, girl, wouldn't she have a rash?"

"Well what the fuck else could be wrong with her?!" she demanded; clearly the lack of sleep was making Kelly tetchy.

"Dude, I have had just as little sleep as you, do not start getting snippy with me," I warned her. "She hasn't got fucking meningitis, calm your shit. Look, give her to me. I'll see if I can work some magic."

"No, Korbyn, I really don't-" Kelly began, but Mac cut across her.

"Come on, babe, just let her try. Korbie babysat for fucking years before college."

"And you know how much Stel loves me," I said, pouting. "How many times have I calmed her down in the last six months? Exactly. Hand her over." I held out my arms and wiggled my fingers at her, and Kelly relented, passing the now-sobbing-rather-than-screaming Stella to me.

"Hey, baby girl," I cooed at her red, tear-streaked face as she cried at me. "Come on, Stella, don't cry for Auntie Korbie." Cue Stella crying even harder. "Fuck. Okay, um...oh! I think I know what the problem is!" At that point, Stella had attempted to bite my bare shoulder, and a little light bulb went off in my head.

I sat down in the chair by the window after evicting Mack from it, being careful not to startle Stella even more. I gently placed a finger on one of her lips and softly lifted it up. There, in the middle of her top gum, the little white cap of a tooth was poking through. "I knew it. She's teething, you idiots."

The looks of relief that fell over Mac and Kelly's faces were priceless; they both looked like they were about to pass out from sheer release. Kelly let out a breathy laugh and placed her hand over her heart, while Mac just stuck his middle finger up at me.

"Fucking hell, Korbie, like you couldn't have just said that to start with!" he said.

"Er, Mac, I'm not trying to be funny but to start with I didn't know that," I pointed out. "Kel, have you got any of that soothing gel you can put in your mouth?"

"There's some in the bathroom cabinet," she replied, having passed relief and now sounding completely drained.

"Right," I said, standing up, keeping Stella in my arms. "You two go to bed, I'll wrap up here."

"Korbie, you don't have to do that," Kelly insisted.

"No, seriously, it's fine," I replied, already heading out of the room with Stella. "You guys were actually like, _up_-up way earlier than me. Get some sleep, it's _fine_. Please."

"Thanks Korb, you rock," Mac said appreciatively, punching me on the shoulder.

"Yeah, yeah," I said, brushing him off. "Just go, for fuck sake, before I change my mind."

So as my brother and sister-in-law snuggled back into bed and quickly fell straight back to sleep, the bastards, I was sitting back in Stella's room with my niece in my arms, rubbing soothing gel into her mouth and holding her until 3am, which is when she finally fell asleep.

I placed her back in her crib, pressed a kiss to her forehead and said, "Night, baby girl. I'll always be here for you," before heading back into my own room, crawling under the covers and shutting myself down until my alarm went off at 5.45.

* * *

"Well next time, may I suggest a pair of earplugs?" Professor Bright now offered, causing me to scowl at him.

"Now why didn't I think of that?" I said sarcastically. "Oh wait, I did. It didn't work."

"Attitude, Korbyn, we've had this conversation before," Bright said sharply. I didn't say anything, so he continued with Attendance. "Amira-Jane Riley?"

AJ, my best friend since I started college, smirked at me as she waved her hand in the air. "Yeah, sir. You got me."

That left one name on the Attendance sheet.

"Teddy Sanders?" No answer. "Teddy?" Still nothing. "Teddy Sanders, are you here?" I rolled my eyes. Surprise, surprise, Teddy cut class. Again. We had a grand total of four months left of our senior year at Braxton University, and Teddy had skipped pretty much every other class we'd had since the beginning of the year. Hell, since the beginning of college. Not that I was shocked, the guy was a fucking moron.

Bright removed his reading glasses and placed them back on his desk, sighing. He never bothered commenting on Teddy's absences anymore. After three and a half years, he was used to it. I could see him muttering something as he consulted another bit of paper, crossing something off of it, then writing something else.

"Okay," he said, standing up and looking over the ten of us that were in the class. Architecture wasn't exactly a popular major. "You've been back from spring break for what, a week? You've had time to get back in the groove of working, so I'm setting you all a kind of prep project." A groan rose up from the class. "Calm down, guys, you're not doing it by yourselves. I'm putting you into groups of two-"

"So pairs?" piped up AJ.

"Yes, AJ, pairs," said Bright. "I'm putting you into pairs, and over the next month you are going to be designing a eco-friendly waste system for a bungalow that leads to a drain system outside."

_Sounds like a really charming topic_, I thought, flicking my black hair over my shoulder and pulling a face at AJ, who crossed her eyes back at me and giggled.

"Is there a problem, Korbyn?" Shit, he'd seen me.

"No," I said quickly. "Nope. Absolutely zero problem over here."

"Oh good," he said, consulting his piece of paper again. "Right. Lena and Britney, you're together. Carson and Andrew, you two. Michael and Tommy, you. AJ and Dana. Korbyn, you were going to be a three with AJ and Dana, but since Teddy isn't here, Korbyn and Pete."

"Oh, fan-fucking-tastic," I muttered under my breath, and as the class stood up I saw AJ mouth, "_Shit,_" at me.

Pete Carter and I had known each other since the first grade. We'd grown up in Ardendale together. While the other boys at school had run around kicking soccer balls about or playing basketball, and the girls sat with their Barbies and their Bratz dolls, Pete and I would be sitting in the sandbox building castles and houses out of the sand and Duplo blocks. We slept round each others' houses, went out on our bikes after school, and if we came back splattered in mud - until we were like nine - one of our moms would put us in the same bath.

Pete and I were joined at the hip. Even through high school, we'd stayed together, even though he was your typical hot high school guy while I was leaning more towards being the alternative, Goth-like girl. But the summer before we started college, things changed.

Both of us had been accepted at Braxton University to do Architecture, and we were psyched. Then Pete's parents got divorced, and something in him snapped. I tried to be there for him, but suddenly, he stopped calling me. Stopped texting me. Stopped seeing me. The few times I did get through to him, he just cried, got angry and shouted at me.

So I stopped trying. We only saw each other when we would meet up once a week to go through the official stuff for Braxton. He'd decided he was going to try and join a fraternity; Delta Psi Beta, the biggest frat on campus. So, in an attempt to show him that I was still his friend and would always be there for him, I pledged for Zeta Tau Phi. Both of us were accepted to our chosen houses.

That's when Pete met Teddy, and I met AJ. AJ, with her blonde hair and brown eyes and petite figure. We looked like chalk and cheese, but personality-wise, we were almost identical. Same love of crappy comedy movies, superheros and all things WWE. The only thing we disagreed on was who we thought should be Divas Champion. She said her namesake, AJ Lee, whilst I insisted Brie Bella deserved the title again.

Pete, meanwhile, rapidly changed into another version - albeit, a smarter version - of Teddy. For almost four years, the two of them had worked their way up through Delta Psi until Teddy became President at the start of senior year, with Pete as his VP.

Me? I'd hated every second of my time as a sorority sister. Everyone but AJ was bitchy, vapid, high-pitched and just plain fucking annoying. I hated most of them, and I'm pretty sure the feeling was mutual. So when my older-by-fourteen-years brother Mac had announced that he and his wife, Kelly, were moving into a three-bedroomed house that was a twenty minute drive from the university, I backed out of Zeta Tau Phi as quickly as I could and moved in with them, on Mac's condition that I help look after their, at the time, newborn daughter Stella.

So that's where I've been the last borderline-seven months, away from the bitchiness and the stupid girls, able to just be me.

"Oh my God, Jesus is trying to make me kill myself this week," I hissed to AJ as I passed her, and she patted me comfortingly on the arm. I stood by the computer Pete had sat down by and slammed by bag down on the table next to it, dragging up a chair and sitting down on it, crossing one leg over the other and folding my arms. "Carter. Long time, no speak." No exaggeration, we had classes together every other day but Pete and I hadn't directly spoken in about four weeks.

"Radner," he greeted me, looking up from the computer and raking his eyes over me. "Looking understated as ever."

"Oh, bite me," I growled. It was no secret that I liked to dress a little differently to girls my age. Today, the outfit of choice was a tank top that read '_My body, my tattoo, my choice, fuck you_,' black Doc Martens boots and turquoise jeans that were the exact same shade as the highlights in my hair.

"Already have," he quipped. "You didn't taste that great. Like dirt and spite, even when we were ten."

"Look, Pete," I said, trying to keep my cool. "We are not gonna get through the next month of this project without killing each other if we can't just be civil."

"Hey man, I tried to be civil, you're the one who jumped down my fucking throat."

"No, you were ripping the shit out of my clothes!"

"I was just saying-"

"No, you were just being an asshole!"

"Korbyn!" Oh God, Bright had intervened. "Pete, is there a problem?"

"No, Professor, just some creative differences," Pete said smoothly as I sat there fuming.

"After five minutes?" Bright questioned.

"Korbie's very opinionated," Pete replied, and I scowled at him.

"Just try to keep the shouting at a minimum, okay?" Bright said, walking over to check out...I mean, check _on_ AJ and Dana.

I plastered a very obviously fake smile on my face. "So how's life over at Delta Psi? Still torturing those pledges of yours?" You always knew who the Delta pledges were on-site; they were the ones in bright pink crop tops that sported highly derogatory nicknames on them.

"It's initiation," Pete was quick to defend. "We all had to go through it too."

I snorted. "Yeah, and you looked like a fucking idiot, Dogfuck." I reminded him of the nickname _he'd_ been given for freshman year.

"But," he said, ignoring my dig. "We're moving houses. Too many brothers, not enough space."

"Oh yeah? Where you moving to?"

"Some place like a half hour away," he replied. "Sick house, we beat out this gay couple for it. We're moving in on Saturday."

"Nice," I said dryly. "Beating out a gay couple for a house. I bet you and Teddy are super proud of yourselves."

"Hey man, we didn't make them not raise their offer," Pete pointed out, dragging up a big sheet of paper from a cubbyhole under the desk and chucking out some markers too.

"Well, I'm sure you and your boyfriend will be very happy in your new house," I said, taking a red marker and printing **ECO-FRIENDLY WASTE SYSTEM **at the top of the paper. "And I seriously pity your new neighbors." Delta Psi parties were famous around campus; famous for being loud, bright and last all night. Those poor neighbors didn't know what was going to hit them.

* * *

Class dragged on so, so slowly. I had classes on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, two classes a day for an hour and a half at a time. Today was Wednesday, and I was so tired already. Even without Stella's rough night, I would still have been tired. My run-in with my ex-best friend had drained me.

As soon as two o'clock hit, I was out of class, pushing past Pete, AJ, everyone, just to get out of school and into the parking lot. I located my red Fiat 500 - a 21st birthday present from Mom and Dad - and clambered into the driver's seat, chucking my bag in the passenger seat and peeling out of the lot.

I was home by half past. Kelly's car was in the garage and Mac was still at work, so there was plenty of space for me to park in the driveway for a change.

"Kelly? Stella? Are you here?" I called as I opened the door, just in case they'd gone to the park down the road or something.

"Hey Korbie!" Kelly called from the kitchen. "How was your day?"

"Shitty," I replied, kicking off my boots and mooching through to the living room, where Stella was sitting in her jumper-seat, giggling away to herself. "Hey Stella! How's my favourite little niece, huh?" She laughed at me and clapped before turning her attention back to the toys on her jumper. Clearly Kelly had been dosing her up on soothing gel all day.

"What happened today, then?" Kelly asked, coming through to the living room with two mugs of cappuccino. She handed one to me and we both sat down on the sofa, curling our legs up.

I sighed. "We've got this project in Architecture and Professor Bright divvied us all up into pairs."

"So I guess you weren't put with AJ?" Kelly said sympathetically.

"You would be correct," I said grimly. "Instead, he's put me with...um...did I ever tell you about Pete Carter?"

"Is he the boy you used to be close to when Mac and I started dating?"

I nodded. "And way after, too. Pete and I were besties until like, three years ago."

"He's the one who turned into an arsehole?"

I nodded again, smiling at Kelly's pronunciation of 'ass.' "Yeah, that one. His normal partner wasn't in class - not that _that_'s a surprise, Teddy never is - so Bright glued me to him instead of putting me with AJ and Dana like he was going to, the bastard."

"Is he still a total dick?" Kelly sipped her coffee almost intelligently.

"We spent half of the lesson arguing, let's use that as an answer. We've gotta to this project for the next fucking month and I swear to God, I'll end up killing him by the end of next week. It's like I never even knew him, and it sucks."

Kelly placed her mug down on the coffee table and took my free hand in both of hers. "Fuck him," was all she said, grinning at me. "Obviously he's an idiot if he dumped you for some frat boy."

"Oh Jesus, don't say dumped," I said, grimacing. "It makes it sound like we dated and we _so _did not." Okay, yes, there had been a few months in our sophomore year of high school where it looked like things might have developed that way, but that was quashed almost as quickly as it was started.

So for the next three hours Kelly and I sat around drinking coffee, gossiping and playing with Stella. As evening drew in, the little girl started to get a bit grizzly. Her soothing medicine was wearing off and she was starting to get pissy with anything and everything.

I held her in my arms as she made irritated whining noises, and Kelly was attempting to cheer her up with a rattle, a teddy bear, my iPhone. I'd protested quite loudly about that last one, especially after Stella had started gumming on it before deciding she didn't like it any more and dropped it.

"Oh my God, where is that fucking gel?!" I demanded.

"I'm not giving her anymore, I'll end up OD'ing her!" said Kelly.

"You can't OD on soothing gel! You can practically eat the whole fucking tube!" I snapped. I handed Stella over to her and ran a hand through my hair. "Stel, as much as I love you, you are causing me some serious stress right now."

It was at that point Kelly and I both heard the front door open, and Mac appeared in the hallway, closing the door behind him. "There are the girls!" he said with a smile.

"What's up, bro," I said. "It feels like I haven't seen you for like two days." Wednesdays were my early days; I was out of the house at 7am to get to Braxton for my 8am class, and Mac didn't leave the house until 8, so I hadn't seen him since last night's totally fun (not) all-nighter.

"Hey sis," he said, dumping his bag by the living room door and joining us. "How's it going, sweetie?" he asked Kelly.

"Good," she said, smiling back at him.

"What's happening?" he questioned, holding out his arms for Stella, who Kelly gratefully handed over.

"She's excited to see you," Kelly told him, even though Stella was still making her 'I'm pissed off with you all' noises.

"Wait, wait. Hey," Mac cooed at Stella, making her look at him. He started waggling his tongue about, making 'blurh' noises at her until she stopped whinging and started to giggle. He looked between me and Kelly triumphantly. "Man, parenting is easy! Look at that!"

"Yeah, for two hours a day," said Kelly, and I detected a hint of resentment in her tone.

"Yeah, Mac," I said, folding my arms. "I parent your kid more than you do."

* * *

**A/N- So that's chapter one. I'm using this one to establish characters, relationships, set the scene and whatnot. Sorry not much movie stuff happened, but I do have my own storyline to add in as well. So let me know what you think! I know the **_**Neighbors **_**category is so small, so if you're reading this, gimme a follow, a favourite, a review, just something to let me know how you're liking it, and I hope to update soon! Happy New Year, one and all! Xx Gee xX**

**PS- I'm developing a Polyvore page for Korbie's outfits. You'll find that link on my profile, along with links to the actresses I'd have play Korbie and AJ, and also a picture of Korbie's car. Check 'em out!**

**PPS- I'm in the process of making a kind of trailer for the fic, but I'll have more details on that as and when it happens :D**


	2. Well, Shit

**A/N- Well, the pleasant surprise I've had at the positive response to my little fic has blown me away! Thank you so much, guys, I really appreciate the favourites and follows, and extra thanks to Jelly Boobs (best pen-name EVER, by the way XD) , lily1994, Anon123, Cloudcity'sBookworm, Nandarin, mymy15, BloodyAvenger21, LaceyLeanne1997, Skylar97 and Audrey for being my first reviewers!**

* * *

**Chapter Two- Well, Shit**

I've been called a lot of things over the course of my life; snappish, rude, arrogant, aggressive. And yeah, while I am pretty much all of those things, the one thing I can never be accused of being is lazy.

To give Mac some time to just chill with his wife and daughter, I headed into the kitchen to cook us all dinner. In the weird mood I was in, I needed to do something practical to stop me driving back to campus, hunting down the Delta Psi house and strangling Pete with his own tie.

I took some eggs, ham and cheese out of the fridge for omlettes, plugged my Beats into my phone and selected a song that fir just _perfectly _with my current situation: _My Plague _by Slipknot. I especially liked the lyrics, "Your impossible ego fuck / Is like a megalomaniacal tab on my tongue / You fuckin' touch me I will rip you apart / I'll reach in and take a bite out of that shit you call a heart." Cannot imagine why.

So there I was, flitting around the kitchen in the sweats I'd changed into earlier, whisking eggs and mouthing along to the music. I probably looked like a really happy-go-lucky kinda gal to the untrained eye.

My music suddenly cut off abruptly when my phone started vibrating with a call. I pulled the headphones out of the jack and looked at the caller ID. It was AJ.

"Hey A," I said, accepting the call. "What's up?"

"What's up with _me_?!" she pretty much shrieked down the phone. "What's up with _you_?! Why the fuck did you take off at the end of class like that?"

"I know, I'm sorry, but-" I tried to reply, but AJ was in full flow.

"We were supposed to go to Starbucks! I had to go with _Dana_!" she fumed. "I already had to talk to her all day and you _know _I only moderately tolerate her in class! She never fucking shut up about this new Persian kitten she's got!"

"I'm sorry, I just-" I tried again, and again I was cut off.

"You could have at least said bye, bitch!"

"Amira-Jane, shut the fuck up and let me speak!" I snapped, and AJ went quiet. "Jesus, woman! I'm sorry, for the third time! I just had to get out of there, okay? Pete was driving me crazy! I honestly believe if I'd stayed any longer, I'd've fucking decapitated him!"

"Oh man," AJ said sympathetically. "It was that bad, huh?"

"You don't know the half of it," I said grimly, supporting the phone between my ear and shoulder as I tipped some whisked eggs into a frying pan. "Every other sentence out of the boy's mouth was a dig at me, the bastard."

"Sometimes I really do fail to believe that you two were ever even friends, let alone as close as you said you used to be," AJ said.

"I'd think that too if I wasn't the one who'd lived it."

"Korbie, are you...are you sure there wasn't unfinished business when you guys stopped being friends?"

I narrowed my eyes, even though AJ couldn't see me. "What do you mean?"

"Look, don't bitch out, but..." AJ paused. "Was there anything, like, romantic left open?"

Now I was the one who paused. "...are you fucking serious?" I snorted. "Me and Pete? Romantic? Oh my God, you are too funny, AJ. No, never. Not at...well, there was one time, but we were sixteen and...you don't need to know about that. The point is, we friendzoned hard, and now we hate each other. Case closed."

"So you're sure?" she said doubtfully. "You don't sound like you're even convincing yourself. Like, at all."

"Yeah, we're changing the topic now," I said quickly. "I gotta go."

"Oh come on, Korbie, I didn't mean to piss you off!" AJ said anxiously.

"No, it isn't you," I promised. "I'm making dinner for me, Mac and Kelly, and it's finished. I swear, I'm not pissed."

"Okay, if you say so. What are you doing tomorrow? It's your free day, right?"

"Yeah, I'll probably be doing some of this waste management bullshit. I can guarantee Pete won't do jack shit just to irritate me."

"Okey dokey, then. Catch you later, bae."

"See ya, baby g."

* * *

I didn't kill anyone with my slightly burned omlettes, so that was my achievement of the evening. As the night drew in, I curled up on the sofa with my sketchpad, a pencil set and the Architecture brief, setting to drawing out a rough outline of the interior toilet system. Mac and Kelly, meanwhile, were lying with Stella under her baby gym, occasionally whacking at the stuffed animals above them.

"This is delightful," Mac said contently. "This is awesome, this thing. We should get one of these above our bed."

"Yo, if that's the case then we're making it a family thing. Mom never got me one," I chipped in as Kelly's iPod sounding off with a FaceTime request, which she answered.

"Hello?"

"Hey! Oh my God! You guys _have _to come out with me! I haven't seen you in _forever_!" Paula's, a close family, voice filtered out, and I immediately dropped what I was doing and moved off the sofa into the frame behind Kelly.

I loved Paula; she was thirty-three years old but had the mindset of someone my age. Being honest, I didn't think she planned on growing up any time soon. She partied harder than anyone I knew.

"Yeah, what's going on?" Mac asked her.

"Okay, my friend is spinning at the Royalton tonight," she replied. "There's a rumor that Prince might perform!"

I snorted. "Yeah, sure. Prince, here, in this deadbeat city. Makes perfect sense."

"I _really _need to get out of the house," Kelly said contemplatively, looking between Mac and I.

I softened. "Yeah, after the day I've had, a night out would be pretty good..."

"I have not been out since Jimmy and I got divorced," added Paula, putting on her pitiful voice. "And I really need you there. Please?" Jimmy Blevins was Mac's best friend, co-worker and Paula's now-ex-husband. He was the only man I knew who was simpler in the head than my brother.

"How do we do this?" Mac mused. He turned to me. "Korbyn, pretty please can you babys-"

"No," I interrupted. "I am not being left alone to stew in my own thoughts while you two rave it up. Ain't happening. I'm coming too."

"Fuck. Fine. Why are you so awkward? What should I do? Do I call the babysitter bunch?" he asked Kelly.

"I don't know about that," she said with a frown. "Let's just... It's too late. We'll..."

"Why don't you drop it at the fire station?" suggested Paula.

"We can't- what are you talking about?" Mac said incredulously. "That's not how it works!"

"The baby drop?" Paula elaborated.

"Okay, _no_," Kelly said firmly.

"I'm kidding," Paula backtracked. "What, like, having a baby, you like, lost your sense of humor? Korbyn, you got the joke, right?"

"Yeah, don't worry, I got it," I said with a smile. "Mac used to ask Mom and Dad to do that with me until I turned four."

"What are you doing?!" said Mac, looking at the iPod screen. I only now realized that Paula wasn't actually paying attention to any of us; she was applying eyeliner using the iPod camera.

"I'm using the little box in the FaceTime to put make-up on," she replied.

"You're not even looking at us, are you?"

"No," she said simply. "Who looks at the other people when they FaceTime?"

"I'd say ninety-three percent of people with an Apple product?" I offered.

"Shut up, Korbie! Why are you guys not coming out?" she demanded. "Is fucking Jimmy there? Jimmy!"

"No, Jimmy's not here," Mac said tiredly.

"Korbyn doesn't want to stay home and we don't have a babysitter, so..." Kelly let her sentence trail off.

"Hey, don't be blaming me for this!" I exclaimed.

"Hellooo? Fucking bring her," Paula said like it was obvious.

Mac let out a scoff, looking at Kelly. "No...?" he drew out, looking at her for confirmation. "...Yes? ...No? Yes? What are you doing? What are you thinking?"

"I say, we fucking do it." I stood up and stretched, fluffing my hair out with my hands.

"Let's just do it!" Kelly agreed, sounding somewhat impulsive.

"This could be a doorway to, like, a whole new life!" Mac said excitedly. "Where we have it all! We have fun and a baby!"

"That's fantastic!" Kelly cheered.

"This is the moment!" Mac hissed so the iPod wouldn't pick it up.

"This is it!"

"Let's do it!"

"I need to go out!"

"We've got this!" I put in.

"Okay!" Mac said louder, addressing Paula.

"Let's go!" we all said.

"I'm down," said Kelly, bending to pick up Stella. "Little chicken! Come on!"

"Baby's first rave!" I cried out, throwing my arms in the air.

"Baby's first rave!" repeated Mac.

"Baby's first rave!" echoed Kelly.

"Baby's first rave!" Mac said again, adding in some dubstep beats. Within seconds, all four of us had joined in, repeating 'baby's first rave' and adding beats until...

"BABY'S FIRST RAVE!"

Kelly and I ran upstairs to change. I threw on a pair of black jeans and some heeled boots and seized a handbag, barelling back down the stairs to help Mac gather up stuff for Stella. It looked like we were already to go. Then:

"Wait! Shit! Diaper bag! It needs to be restocked!"

"She needs an extra onesie in case she craps herself!"

"I think I better pump!"

"You gotta pump?"

"I think I need to pump!"

"She wants your necklace! Give me your necklace! Now go pump!"

"Everyone hold up, I need to take a dump!"

"Korbyn, there's not time for you to take a shit!"

"We should get the cooler!"

"Okay, here we go!"

"Wait, if we're bringing the swing, let's just bring the Jumperoo!"

"We have room. I think we have room!"

"Butt Paste!"

"I don't know where the Butt Paste is!"

"Binky! Binky! Binky!"

"I don't know where the Binky is!"

"Guys, why is the Binky in my make-up bag?!"

The next thing I knew was waking up to Stella letting out a laugh. I was draped over Mac with my arms around his neck and my face pressed against his shoulder. We were passed out by the front door, as was Kelly. Muted sunlight was streaming through the glass panel of the door: we'd been there nearly all night.

"We fell asleep!" Mac mumbled, pushing me off him.

"Let's go," yawned Kelly. "Let's go."

"Oh, fuck my life," I groaned, rubbing my eyes. "I can't feel my legs."

Mac's phone beeped with a message. "Wait. Shit, another video."

It was Paula again. "Best. Night. _Ever_. Look at how much food I just ordered!" She panned the camera around a table filled to the brim with platters of God only knows what. "I'm not even hungry! It's so wasteful!"

"We missed it," Mac muttered as the video ended, causing Kelly to whack him on the thigh. "Shit! Don't hit me!"

"I'm so tired!" Kelly said tearfully.

"Guys. It's four thirty-three in the morning," I said, feeling close to crying myself. Why could I never just have a simple night out. Why. "I think we're done here."

"Let's just go to sleep," suggested Mac.

"You've never had a better idea in your life," I said quietly, staggering to my feet and dragging myself up to my room. I stripped out of my tight, constricting clothing and pulled my sleep shorts/tank top on. Today had just been one lump of shit after another.

As I climbed under my duvet, all I could think was how fucking grateful I was that I didn't have to go to college tomorrow.

* * *

The next two days passed so fucking slowly. On Thursday, all I wanted to do was sleep. I didn't even bother getting dressed. Instead, I slouched around the house in my PJs all day, eating ice-cream out of the tub and half-heartedly sketching out some more stuff for Architecture.

Sure, I helped Kelly out with Stella too, but mostly I just stuck to my bedroom all day. I was just in the most unsociable mood ever. I played my music loud, kept the door firmly shut and turned off my phone. Maybe I was PMSing. Who knew? Because I sure as shit didn't.

Friday was just a massive pile of fuck-fuckedy-fuck-fuck-fuck. I left the house in good time; one o'clock to make my half two class. But of course, halfway to Braxton I just _had _to somehow manage to get a flat tire. That took forty minutes out of my travel time because I had to call a fucking mechanic to come change the fucking thing.

Then, just as things were looking up, I got caught in a minor traffic jam just ten minutes away from the college because some fucker decided to have the fucking indecency to crash into a fucking tree. So in the end, I screeched into the student parking lot twenty minutes late, skidding into class five minutes later.

"Oh my God, Professor Bright, I am just...I'm so sorry!" I gasped, flopping down into the seat beside Pete, kicking his bag off said seat and ignoring the affronted look he gave me.

"Korbyn, what time do you call this?" Bright said, looking so unimpressed. "You're nearly half an hour later, where have you _been_?"

"It's a long story, Professor, I just-"

"It isn't good enough! You're twenty-one years old, you are in college! Petty excuses don't cut it here!"

"It isn't an excuse, I promise, I-"

"Well if it isn't an excuse, then let's hear it! Come on!"

"Sir, honestly, I've had the morning from hell!" I exclaimed, pretty close to tears, I was so stressed. "I got a flat tire, there was a jam because someone crashed into a tree and I ran over a squirrel when I turned into the parking lot! I really didn't intend to be late, I am so, so sorry!"

Apparently my desperate and vaguely hysterical demeanor had had some kind of effect on Bright, because his face softened, and he sighed. "I apologise, Korbyn. Clearly you are telling the truth. I'm sorry it's been such a rough morning, but I can't let a half hour lateness pass. See me at the end of the day, please."

"Yes, sir," I said quietly, lowering my eyes and pulling my sketchpad out of my bag.

"Man, you look like shit, Radner," said Pete, staring at me.

"Shut the fuck up, Pete," I said, not even looking at him. "Do _not _piss me off today, or I swear to God, I'll put you in a fucking hospital."

"Come on, Korbsy, don't be like that. We're still friends, right?" Pete smirked at me.

"No, we're not," I said, my tone hard. "I hate you. I want to shit on your face."

"Wow. You have such a feminine touch with your way with words," he said, grinning. And that was pretty much how the rest of the hour of class continued, followed by the next hour and a half evening class we had at half past five. By the time seven o'clock rolled around, I had no fight left in me.

While Pete and I had actually made a pretty good leeway with our plans, it had been a total of two and half hours of constant digs at each other, however obvious or thinly veiled. Bright then held me back for fifteen minutes to check that I was 'alright' and if 'things at home were okay' and 'did I have anything I wanted to talk about?' I assured him that I was fine, because I was. I was just having a bad couple of days.

Still, I was more than extremely grateful to get home. I crept in the door at just before eight o'clock, trying to be as silent as possible because I knew Kelly would be trying to get Stella to sleep. There was no way I wanted to disturb them.

I kicked my boots off and edged my way into the living room, collapsing face-first on the sofa next to Mac, who was watching _Breaking Bad_.

"Hey kiddo, how was your day?" he asked, patting my legs, which I had stretched across his lap.

"Shit," I answered monotonously, my voice muffled by the pillow I had my face pressed into. "Please feel free to suffocate me at any point you like."

"Jesus, Korb, what happened?"

"Flat tire, traffic jam, dead squirrel, Pete Carter. Precisely in that order."

"Pete Carter? Fuck, I haven't seen him since you guys were like, seven." When I was in second grade, Mac had stopped coming home for holidays while he was at college. He'd been twenty-one and hadn't seen the point anymore, plus he'd just met Kelly. "How is he?"

"A raging douchebag," I replied, rolling around so I could look at my brother. "Did Mom never tell you? Kelly's never said anything? We had a massive fight the summer before we started Braxton."

"You know Mom never bothers telling me anything like that."

"Well, to be fair, you probably didn't really need to know about all that girly, hormonal shit anyway. But the short and short of it is, we pretty much hate each other now, and we have done for almost four years. But now we've been shoved together to do this shitty project. And I mean literally shitty- it's about waste disposal."

"And he's being an ass about it?"

"Essentially, yeah." I yawned, stretching my arms above my head. "I just hate comparing how we used to be to how we are now." _It breaks my heart_, is something I certainly did not say out loud.

"Well, fuck that dude," Mac said with his signature grin. "You're fucking awesome, and you know it."

"Hell yeah, I know it!" I exclaimed, grinning back. "I am a strong, independent woman who don't need no man!"

"That's my baby sis," Mac said, pulling me into a tight bear-hug, a hug I was quick to return.

Leave it to my big brother to make me feel so much better on even the shittiest of days.

* * *

"I WANNA WATCH YOU BURN! BURN!" I shout-sang as I got dressed on Saturday morning, jamming out to Papa Roach's _Burn_. "BURN! I WANNA WATCH YOU BUUURN! YOU'RE GONNA GET WHAT YOU DESERVE! YOU NEVER LEARN! YE-AH!"

It was a relatively warm day, and Mac, Kelly and Stella were all outside, having breakfast on the front porch. Well in my book, sun = show off some skin, so I pulled on my official WWE 'One vs. All' Roman Reigns t-shirt and a pair of red shorts, leaving my feet bare. I was in the process of trying my hair up when I heard the sound of a vehicle pulling up outside and a horn going off, followed by Mac's voice floating through my open window.

"Moving truck! Moving truck!"

I dropped my hairbrush and hurried over to the window, pushing the curtain out of the way. Sure enough, a U-Haul truck was coming to a stop next door. New neighbors! I'd completely forgotten that house was even up for sale.

I grabbed the nearest pair of shoes - some patterned Havaianas - and stuck them on, running down the stairs and out the front door.

"New neighbors!" I exclaimed, skidding to a stop by Mac, who was chanting, "Gay couple?!" a few times.

"I'm kinda offended I was never informed of potential...new...neigh...bors..." My voice trailed off as I took in what Mac had been saying.

Apparently, a gay coyple had been in the running for this house next door.

What had Pete told me about the house Delta Psi had just bought?

_Sick house, we beat out this gay couple for it. We're moving in on Saturday__._

"Oh God, please, no!" I whispered, just as the passenger door of the truck opened, and Teddy and Pete stepped down.

Oh. Fuck.

* * *

**A/N- So I think we can all agree shit is going to hit a very large fan in the next chapter. But that will be then. This is now. I really hoped you liked the chapter! The amount of reviews/favourites/follows I got for the first chapter is insane! Like, I honestly can't thank you guys enough! I'm sorry it's taken a while to update too, so thanks for the patience! I hope to update quicker this time! Xx Gee xX**

**PS- Where my **_**Supernatural **_**fans at? Me and my best friend, are currently in the middle of writing a joint story on her profile called **_**Better The Angel You Know**_**, and it would mean so much if you guys would read it, maybe leave it a little review and a follow? It's linked on my profile under Joint Stories! As is my finally finished trailer for **_**The Girl Next Door **_**and a Korbyn/Pete tribute, plus the **_**TGND **_**Polyvore page! Check 'em out!**


	3. What Is and Has Been

**A/N- And here is chapter three! Sorry it's taken a while but, y'know, coursework and all that. Super big thanks to Cloudcity'sBookworm, Audrey, Lil-Randomer, Skylar97 and J for reviewing!**

* * *

**Chapter Three-**** What Is and Has Been**

_**Sixteen**__** Years Ago**_

_"Mommy, Mommy, look!" I cried, pointing out the window. "There's people across the street!"_

_"Yes, darling, there's always people across the street," Mom said, looking at me from where she was sitting on the sofa, sewing the knee of my big brother Mac's jeans together. "It's summer, people like to go for walks."_

_"No, Mommy, no!" I insisted__,__ frustrated, jumping down from the window ledge and running over to her. "There's __new__ people across the street! In Mrs Baker's old house! Come see, come see!" I grabbed Mom's hand and dragged her over to the window, pointing again._

_A big truck was parked outside Mrs Baker's house. She had died not long ago. Mom and Daddy went to her funeral. Mom and I stood there staring out the window as a woman and a man took two final boxes out of the big truck, paid the driver and waved him off. A little boy suddenly slid out of the car parked in their driveway, running over to his dad, who picked him up and swung him around._

_"Mommy, look! A boy!" I cried. "He could be my friend! Oh please, can we go and say hello?"_

_"Korbyn, they've literally only just moved in, I don't think they want us-"_

_"Please, Mommy! PLEASE!"_

_"No, Korbyn, we're not-"_

_"PLE__EEEAAA__ASE!"_

_Mom huffed out a sigh. "Okay, fine! Go and find your shoes!"_

_"Yay!" I scrambled down from the ledge and hurried into the hall, pulling on my purple shoes and jumping up and down a few times in excitement. __"New friends! Mommy, this is gonna be so fun!"_

"_We're going over there for __five minutes__, Korbie,__" Mom warned me, slipping my cardigan over my shoulders._

"_Yes, Mommy, okay," I said quickly so she would hurry up and open the door. She did so, and I shot out of it, Mom having to grab hold of my arm so I didn't run out in the road. Mac had done that when he was little, and he got hit by a car and broken his leg. Mommy told me this story so I wouldn't do it; I hadn't been born when it happened._

_We made sure to check the street from both ways, and then Mommy took my hand and walked me across to the other path, where the new people were looking in the boxes on their grass. The boy was sitting on the front steps with a teddy bear, talking to it._

"_Hi there," Mom said, smiling at the new mommy and daddy, who looked up from their boxes and smiled back._

"_Hi," the new mommy said._

"_I'm Amy Radner," Mom introduced herself, then looked down at me. "And this is my daughter Korbyn. We live across the street. We just wanted to introduce ourselves." She held out her hand to the other mommy._

"_Oh, hi! Thank you so much!" the other mommy said, shaking my mommy's hand. "Sorry, it's just a bit of a crazy day, we weren't expecting anyone to be so friendly!" She and Mom both laughed, and the other mommy leaned down to shake my hand too. "Hi there, honey."_

_I smiled at her, but I had my thumb in my mouth; I was suddenly a bit shy._

"_Well, my name's Louise Carter," Other Mommy said. "This is my husband, Simon." She pointed at the daddy before nodding over at the boy on the steps. "And that's our son, Pete."_

"_Hello, Pete!" my mommy called to him, and he looked up from his teddy bear and waved at us. "How old is he?" she asked Mrs Louise._

"_He's five. He's starting elementary school in September."_

_Mommy looked at me. "Just like you, Korbie. Why don't you go and say hello to him?"_

"_I...um...I...I won't know what to say," I said quietly, my thumb still in my mouth as I looked stupidly at the ground. I didn't like it when I got shy like this. I was a big girl, I shouldn't be scared._

_Mrs Louise patted me on the shoulder. "Go on, sweetheart, it's okay. Pete will like to talk to you. You'll both have a friend to talk to when you start school."_

_I looked past Mrs Louise and Mr Simon at Pete, who was talking to his teddy bear again, and nodded. "Okay." So as Mommy and Mrs Louise started talking about what the neighborhood was like, I slowly made my way up the garden path._

_I stood at the bottom of the porch steps, sucking my thumb and scuffing my shoes on the path. Pete looked up from his teddy and stared at me. "Hello," he said._

"_Hello," I replied, my voice funny-sounding from my thumb so it sounded more like, "Heggo."_

"_Who are you?"_

"_My name's Korbie. And you're Pete. Your mommy told me."_

"_Hi Korbie. How old are you?" Pete asked, standing up and coming down the steps to stand next to me. He was taller than I was, which scared me a bit. What if he was a boy who liked to tease girls who were smaller than them?_

"_Five," I said. "But I will be six in February." I stood up straighter, my head higher._

"_Haha! I'm older than you!" he cheered. "I'm going to be six in November!"_

"_Well...my big brother will be twenty in October!" I said quickly. "So he's older than __you__! Do you have any brothers?__"_

"_No," Pete said quietly, and I saw that he looked sad. "I don't have any sisters either. It's just me."_

"_I don't see my brother very often," I told him so he'd feel better. "He goes to a big school now. A uni-ver-sity, Mommy calls it. He only comes home at Christmas. And now, in summer."_

"_Maybe he doesn't come home because he doesn't want to see you," Pete suggested, and he started laughing. At first, I thought he was being mean. Then I realised he was joking, and I started laughing too._

"_He does too want to see me!" I giggled. "He says I'm his perfect princess!" I stuck my tongue out at Pete, who crossed his eyes and stuck his out back._

"_But I thought princesses were meant to be pretty?"_

"_Hey!" I picked up a handful of grass and mud that was lying on the path and threw it at him, and it splattered all over his red t-shirt. "I am so pretty!"_

"_You throw like a girl!" Pete laughed, and he bent down and threw some mud back at me._

"_I __am__ a girl!__" I retorted, throwing another handful back. The next thing I knew, Pete and I were hurling lumps of damp mud and grass at each other, hitting each other in the face, the tummy, the hair, laughing as we did so._

"_Korbyn! Korbyn Marie Radner, what on Earth are you doing?!"_

"_Peter Carter, stop that right now! What a way to behave in front of our new neighbors!"_

_Our mommies started to run up the path, looking completely shocked. My mommy grabbed the back of my cardigan and pulled me away, and Pete's mommy grabbed him around the waist and lifted him up, making him drop the mud in his hand._

"_Korbyn, what the hell was that all about?" Mommy demanded, looking very cross with me._

"_Peter, honestly! I thought we raised you better than this!" Pete's mommy was just as cross as my mommy._

"_Sorry Mommy," Pete and I mumbled at the same time. Then we looked up, and we couldn't stop ourselves; we grinned at each other and started laughing again. It felt like we would never stop._

* * *

I. Felt. Sick. Honestly, truly sick. Why. Why the fuck was all this shit happening to me? What the fuck had I done in the past week that warranted me having the piles of shit that had been the last few days? It was because I'd forgotten to hand in the concluding paragraph to my **FAMOUS EUROPEAN BUILDINGS OF THE 18****TH**** CENTURY** essay, wasn't it?

Mac, Kelly and I stood there on the porch, watching as all the Delta Psi pledges started dragging a ton of furniture out of the back of the moving truck, supervised by Teddy and Pete - the Chief Cunts of the frat - and also Scoonie, the so-called 'big-dicked boy wonder' and Garf, who was actually an alright guy.

"What is this?" muttered Mac. "What are they doing? And what are these kids in the pink shirts?" More Deltas were arriving, on bikes, on scooters, by foot. Tons of them were pledges, too.

Teddy headed up their pathway with a keg on his shoulder, followed by some brothers carrying the Greek house letters. That was when it clicked in Kelly's brain.

"Is that a _fraternity_?" she exclaimed, horrified.

"Ding, ding, ding," I mumbled. "We have a winner."

"Yeah, they got big Greek letters," Mac added. "Looks like a fraternity." He turned to me. "Korb, is that one of Braxton's?"

I nodded slowly, feeling a serious migraine coming on. "Yup. I hate to say it, but that is the biggest frat on campus. Delta Psi Beta."

"Shit. That was a frat when I was there," Mac groaned, peering at the Delta dudes. "Oh my God, look at that guy!" He'd just spotted Teddy. I could just tell. "That guy's the sexiest guy I've ever seen!"

Well, I wasn't going to disagree with him. However, I did feel that now was an excellent time for me to keep my mouth shut; if I opened it, I would projectile vomit into the nearest bush.

"He looks like someone a gay guy designed in a laboratory!" Mac continued.

"Look at his arms," said Kelly, sounding almost in awe.

"Oh my God, they're like two giant, veiny dicks." Yup. Leave it to Mac to make a charming comment like that. _I should start sewing the best ones on cushions_, I thought.

"It's like a gun show," Kelly mused.

"They're not that impressive," I mumbled as we watched Teddy pick up his girlfriend, Brooke, and pull her into a kiss.

"Look at the blonde," Kelly murmured.

Mac immediately started looking in the opposite direction to cover up the fact he'd been staring at Brooke since she'd come into eye-shot. "I don't see which one you're..."

"Oh, you don't know who I'm talking about?" teased Kelly.

"That blonde dude with the red sleeves?" Mac questioned innocently. "He's a handsome guy." It only then clicked with me that Mac was talking about Pete; he couldn't even recognize him. Thank _fuck _for that.

"What do we do?!" Kelly asked shrilly, clearly starting to panic. I didn't blame her. Delta Psi were threatening to break up her near-perfect suburban life.

"I can go over there and kick the shit out of some bitches," I suggested.

"Woah, woah, Korb! _No_! I'm not letting you get arrested for causing bodily harm, Mom will kill me. Okay, okay. I know what we do," Mac said, attempting to soothe Kelly. "They're gonna be loud, obviously. And they're gonna fucking party a lot."

"Baby, this is a fucking nightmare!" exclaimed Kelly. Man, she was freaking out hardcore. I hadn't even broken to them the fact that Delta Psi tended to have a party every fucking night.

"I agree!" said Mac. "We need to go over there. We need to fucking tell them _not_ to do that! Right now!"

That caught me off guard. "Woah, woah, woah. Hold up! Say what now?!"

"We're going over there and telling them to shut the fuck up!" Mac affirmed. "As soon as they move in, they know this neighborhood doesn't stand for that shit! Ad that, we're fucking grown-ups, we have a baby, and they need to be cool! They need to be cool to us, okay! But...okay, wait. Maybe we don't come on strong, though. Maybe we come on... We act cool. We come on like peers."

"Or we don't come on to them at all! I like that idea! That is a great idea!" I pleaded, though Kelly was agreeing with her husband.

"Totally. We be cool," she said. "We take them a joint."

"Ooh!" Mac made a noise of appreciation. "We roll them a joint!"

"Roll them a spliff."

"Give that to them! Then we seem cool. They're thinking, 'Oh, they're like us. This could be us in a few years!'" Mac was getting looking way too deeply into this.

"Yes, respect!" Kelly agreed.

"They'll want us to like them!" said Mac. "Then we say, 'By the way, keep it down.'"

"Exactly!" Kelly concurred. "Well...we won't say it like that. We'll just...I'll say it. Like, we'll just... You know..." Kelly suddenly threw her head to the side like she was having a minor seizure. "Keep it down."

"What the _fuck_ was that?" I demanded, vaguely disturbed by the head movement.

"Yeah, you're doing it a little weird," Mac told her.

"A little?" I said disbelievingly. "Kel, you looked like you were having a stroke."

"Do it again," said Mac. "Do it normal."

"I'll throw it away," she replied. "Just like, you know-" she did the same head movement again. "If you could just keep it down."

"You did it again!" I exclaimed. "Stop twitching like that!"

"Do it normal!" Mac repeated himself with a laugh.

"I'll get it!" Kelly insisted.

"It's an important, key phrase here!"

"Alright, you do it!" Kelly told him. "You do it!"

"Okay, watch," he said confidently. "I'm just gonna do it like this." That was when my brother made a hand motion that looked like a gay man trying to swat away a mosquito. "Keep it down." He made the motion again. "Keep it down."

My jaw dropped in sheer disbelief. "I didn't think it was possible. But that was even worse. Look, we are looking _way_ too deeply into this! If you want to go over there and tell them to shut the fuck up, then go over there and tell them to shut the fuck up!"

Mac and Kelly looked at each other. "It's not gonna be that simple. We'll look so _lame_!" said Mac.

"Mac, you are lame," I've informed him. "You've been lame for thirty-five years, you're gonna _be _lame in thirty-five years, learn to deal with it! Jesus!"

"Okay, fine, you're so smart, so confident, you go fucking tell them to keep it the fuck down!" Mac retorted.

"Yeah!" added Kelly. "They're all your age, Korbie, they'll listen to you!"

"Woah, woah, woah, woah!" I said hastily, raising my arms in a surrendering gesture. "The fuck am I going over there! No! No _way_!"

"Yeah you are," said Mac. "Kids listen to other kids!"

"Not when they're-" I began heatedly, but I clamped my mouth shut. I'd been about to say, "Not when they're the two of the people I hate most in the world!" but I had a feeling Mac would start asking questions; questions I just didn't want to answer right now. "Urgh! Okay, fine!" I said instead. "Just...give me five minutes!"

I ran back inside the house and up the stairs, going into my room and grabbing a pair of big, dark sunglasses and a beanie hat. If I was going over there, then I was not going to be recognizable. I pulled the hat over my head and stuffed my hair underneath it so not a single tendril poked out - especially none of the blue, that would be a complete giveaway - and shoved the sunglasses over my eyes. They were so big that they took up about 50% of my face.

As I came back down the stairs, Kelly was finishing strapping Stella into her stroller. She too had a pair of sunglasses on, though I was pretty sure she was wearing hers in an attempt to look 'down with the kids.' Mac was also trying this out, by wearing a baseball cap at a stupid angle.

He paused when he saw me. "Er, Korb? Why do you look like you're about to rob a bank?"

"Can we just go?" I sighed. "Please?" So we did. We headed straight over to Delta Psi Beta, Kelly and Mac attempting to look cool by grinning at every frat boy we passed, Mac occasionally throwing up a gang sign. I just trudged along behind them, trying not to make eye contact with anyone.

We drew to a stop at the bottom of their porch, where Pete and Teddy were both deep in conversation. Well, there was no turning back now, unless I somehow found a way to just magically disappear from existence. I was actually tempted to go and hide in the back of the moving van.

Then Mac decided to speak. "Wicca-wazzup?"

_Kill me_.

Pete looked over Teddy's shoulder at us, which in turn caused Teddy to look too. Both of them looked highly confused, not that that was an emotion Teddy was unfamiliar with.

"Hey!" Kelly called.

"How's it going?" added Mac.

"Are you our new neighbors?" Teddy asked.

"We're your new neighbors!" Mac confirmed cheerfully. I have no idea why, but everyone seemed to find this piece of information worthy of cheering, and Pete and Teddy came down from the porch as half the main frat filtered outside from the house.

"I'm Teddy, this is Pete," King Frat Douche introduced them, both of them shaking Kelly and Mac's hands. They then tried for me, but I shoved both hands firmly in my pockets and scowled.

"...Pete? Shit," I heard Mac mutter. I glanced up at him through my sunglasses, and he was looking back. I nodded a single nod that told Mac his thoughts were correct; this was Pete Carter standing in front of us.

"What's going on?" Teddy said good-naturedly. "And who's this little lady?" He and Pete both squatted down to look at Stella, who, being the complete charmer she was, smiled a gummy grin back at them.

"Oh, that's so sweet," said Kelly. "No one ever knows she's a girl."

"What?" Now it was Pete's turn to speak. "Of course she is!" He pulled a face at Stella. "Because you're a little princess, aren't you? You're a little princess!" He grinned at Kelly and Mac. "She just scrunched her little nose!"

All the false happiness going on right now made me want to throw up. How the fuck were Mac and Kelly buying any of this bullshit?!

"What's her name?" asked Teddy.

"Stella," replied Kelly.

"That's so cute," Teddy said.

"Best name ever, are you kidding?" agreed Pete, and the entire posse behind him made varying noises of agreement.

"She's a little flirt," Kelly said, but the tone she used was softened with love.

"Like her mom, I bet," Teddy said, a comment that seemed to ruffle a few of Mac's feathers.

"Mm," was all he said, before changing the subject. "And this is my sister, Kor-" I quickly cleared my throat in a way that clearly meant DO NOT TELL THEM MY NAME. "Kor- K- Ka- Kaitlyn. My sister...Kaitlyn."

"Yeah? What's up, Kaitlyn?" Teddy said smoothly, winking at me.

I shrugged at him and nodded. If I spoke, game over. Game over for me being an immature twat.

"Anyway, just wanted to let you guys know that in this neighborhood, we _don't_ keep off the grass." Mac opened up the tin he kept his joints in and offered it to Teddy. "You know what I'm sayin'?" Every single person on the porch started cheering as Teddy took the joint out of the tin and lit it.

"A joint?" he said almost graciously. "Thank you, guys."

"Also, if you could maybe just sometimes-" Mac began.

"Keep it down!" Kelly shouted over the top of him. I face-palmed so hard it felt like my palm was going to crack through my skull.

Mac looked just so awkward. "Alright," was all he said.

"Well, I mean, if you guys ever need anything, or we get too noisy," Teddy offered. "Just talk to me, or talk to Pete. We'll take care of it."

"Hey, same with us," joked Mac. "I mean, we get pretty loud over there. _Game of Thrones, _we get loud. When Khaleesi comes on, I'm like-" and he and Kelly both started making the weirdest shouting noises that caused me to deliver a sharp blow to Mac's ribs that signified he needed to shut the fuck up, now.

The frat clearly thoughts so too, as they let out the world's most uncomfortable laughs. Well, it was nice to know there was one thing we could agree on. A highly awkward silence followed this, with no one really knowing what to do or say. I rocked back and forth on my heels, praying to God that it wouldn't fall on me to break the silence.

Luckily, Mac got in there first. "Alrighty. Dope." _On second thoughts, I would have preferred the awkward silence_, I thought. Everyone started trying to talk at the same time, saying bye to Stella as Kelly and Mac said their own goodbyes, so I took this opportune moment to attempt to just quietly slip away. But as I turned around...

"Oh my God, _Korbyn_?" Brooke spoke up in her typical girlish voice. "Korbyn Radner, is that you?"

I froze. Shit. How did she-? I raised a hand to the back of my neck; some of my hair had fallen out of the back of my beanie hat. My very blue, very me, very significant streaks were on full display to every single person on the porch. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. FUCK.

I slowly turned back around, pulling the hat off my head and fluffing my hair out, my mouth set into a grin that bordered on unstable-looking. _Fuck the Reigns t-shirt. The way I must look now, I'd be better suited to Dean Ambrose. _

"Hi Brooke," I said, my voice strained. "How's it going?"

"Oh. My. God." That came from Pete. Of course it did. "Radner? No fucking way. _You _live next door too?"

I pushed my sunglasses on top of my head for the sole reason of scowling at him. "Looks that way, doesn't it? Fucking lucky us. Maybe we can carpool."

Pete started laughing, bent over, clapping like a dying seal. "This is too fucking good. Oh man. What was it you were saying in class? How much you pity our new neighbors? How ironic."

"Shut up. You laugh like you're choking on a dick," I snapped.

"Come on, neighbor, don't be like that," Teddy decided to chip in there. "You be cool with us, we'll be cool with you."

"Oh, fuck off, Teddy. You could not be any less involved in this conversation if you tried," I snarled.

"Hey, hey, chill," Mac said quickly, grabbing my arm and pulling me back. I only now realized that I'd slowly been advancing on Pete and Teddy, my fist clenched so hard that my nails were digging into my palms.

"Yeah, _Kaitlyn_, chill out," mocked Pete. "A false name? I have to admit, I didn't think you'd get much weirder than you are, but hey, kudos for trying."

"I'll break your fucking legs, Carter," I warned him. "You stupid, ignorant _fuck_."

"Okaaay, I think we're good here." Mac pulled me back even farther, so forcefully this time that I actually stumbled. "I'm sorry about her, she's been like this since she was like, three," he apologized. "Not so good at the friend thing, are you, Korb?"

"Mac!" I gasped, incensed. "For fuck sake, man, who's side are you on here?!"

"Look, Korbyn, calm the fuck down!" he said, placing a hand in front of me to stop me moving forward and smacking some bitches. "Right, we're going. It was great to meet you guys." And with that, he and Kelly both turned and started to walk back towards our house, waving at the frat, as Mac dragged me along beside him.

"Bye Stella!" the frat were calling, waving at her. "Bye Mac, bye Kelly."

"Bye, Psycho Bitch!" added Pete, and I turned around so sharply that I almost dislocated my arm in Mac's steel grip.

"Go and fuck yourself, Pete!" I screamed, pointing at him and, struggling against Mac, who just kept pulling me back to the house. "Sleep with one fucking eye open!"

"Korbyn!" Mac grunted, also struggling against _my_ strength. "Jesus Christ! Just get in the fucking house!" By this point, he had managed to get me to the foot of our porch steps.

"This is the worst fucking day of my life!" I yelled in his face, pushing past him and Kelly and into the house, storming up the stairs and into my bedroom. I slammed the door shut and pulled open the bottom drawer in my chest of drawers: my memory drawer. On the top of the photo albums and certificates and postcards was a picture I'd had for five years.

It was me and Pete at our high school graduation. We were in our gowns and graduation caps with our arms around each other. A couple of other friends were in the background, but Pete and I were grinning like we only had eyes for each other.

I scrunched the picture up in my fist and threw myself down on my bed, stuffing the covers into my mouth and screaming. And screaming. And screaming.

It felt like I was never going to stop.

* * *

**A/N- Well, there you have it! I really hope you enjoyed chapter three, I'm still loving the feedback I'm getting! So please review, let me know what you thought! Love and kisses, and talk soon! Xx Gee xX**

**PS- Now, references. I feel I should make a point before I get any shade for this. I'm setting this fic when the movie came out, IE, April 2014 and onwards. As a result, I'll be making references that will appear kinda out of date. For example, one of Korbie's favourite things is WWE, so when I mention that The Shield in WWE are still together, it's because at the time this is set, they were. I'm not entirely stupid. Just things like that. I swear I'm doing it deliberately and not just being ignorant. :)**

**PPS- Speaking of, any WWE fans reading? On my profile, you'll find a trailer for a Roman Reigns/OC fic I'm going to be writing soon called **_**Speared Through The Heart**_**. I'd love it if you gave it a look-see and maybe a comment? Thanks guys, I love you all! **


	4. Break The Walls Down

**A/N- So this is a bit of a faster update, but still not as quick as I would have liked. I'm so sorry about that. But a big ol' thanks to Cloudcity'sBookworm, Audrey, Mrs Haynes, Guest 1, Guest 2, Candyluver2121, Skylar97 and crystaltonics for reviewing!**

* * *

**Chapter Four- Break The Walls Down**

So it turns out, if you spend an abundant amount of time screaming at the top of your lungs, you'll start to lose your voice. It was easily midday before my screams subsided, leaving my throat red-raw and dry. I rolled round to face the ceiling and wiped the tears from my face, trying to calm down. How was it that my day had actually started out okay, and now it had flat-lined completely?

I inched myself up the pillows, looking around at the posters I had plastered to the walls. They all stared back at me; The Avengers, Batman, the Bella Twins, Harley Quinn, Superman, AJ Lee, The Shield. I had all these pairs of eyes staring, unblinking, right at me. I covered my own eyes with my hands, cutting off the suffocating feeling that had fallen over me.

There was a knock at the door. "Korb? Korbie?"

"Go away, Mac. Please, I'm really not in the mood right now."

"Korb, come on, let me in. We've really gotta talk about this."

"I don't _want _to talk about it, so I'll repeat my earlier sentiments: go away."

"So what, are you just gonna fucking stay in there for the rest of the weekend and not talk to anybody?"

"Is that an option?"

"No, Korbyn, it's not. I was being ironic."

"That wasn't irony, moron, it was rhetorical. Jesus, how you ever got into college is beyond me. So go away."

"Well now you're starting to sound more like you. Can't we just have a conversation about what happened?"

I blew out a sigh, running my hand through my hair. "Fine. If you're gonna insist on playing the concerned big brother, fucking come in then."

I pulled my duvet up around me like a protective barrier. Despite the warmth of the day, I was shivering. I had been for hours. Mac opened my door slowly, almost hesitantly. His face fell when he saw the state I was in. "Hey, Korbie. Come on, sis, don't cry."

And just because he said that, in the warmest, most concerned voice I'd ever heard him use, I burst into tears all over again. The sobs were loud, ugly and wracked my body with convulsions. Mac stopped hesitating in the doorway and practically tripped over his own feet hurrying over. He sat down on the bed next to me and put his arms around my shoulders, pulling me close to him, protecting me.

I pressed my face against his shoulder and howled. Mac gently rocked me back and forth, the way he used to when I was little, like the time I fell off my bike and cut my knee open, or the time I accidentally broke Mrs Chesterson-Next-Door's mailbox with a badly aimed baseball, or the time I held our pet goldfish Wilbur out of his bowl for too long and he died. Mac had always been there to pick me up and hold me close, and now wasn't an exception.

We sat like that for about twenty minutes. Mac was good at just letting me cry out all the pent-up emotion I had. I didn't cry very often, and when I did, the fallout was nuclear. But eventually, I managed to calm myself down enough to start forming comprehensible sentences.

"I h-hate him," I sobbed into Mac's shoulder. "I hate h-him so f-fucking much."

"I know, Korbs. I know," Mac said soothingly, stroking my hair. "But you won't even need to see each other if you just-"

"Why would h-he talk to me like th-that? He's made me feel like n-nothing!"

"Korb, don't think that. He's just a dickhead, you shouldn't let him get to you."

"H-he was my b-best friend! H-how can I-I not l-let it get t-to me?! I j-just don't unders-stand how we c-can be like th-this to each o-other!"

"People change. You both changed, and you grew apart. It happen-"

"And you ju-just stood there! You stood there and l-let him tr-treat me like that!" I shouted, but my voice was muffled from my face being all pressed up.

"I'm sorry, Korb, I really am. I just didn't want to piss them off."

"I'm your f-fucking s-sister! You're _supposed _to p-piss off anyone who tr-treats me like that! Y-you made me look like even m-more of an idiot!" I was starting to move into that form of crying where the tears were slowing down and my voice jerked from the force of the sobs trying to get out.

"Jesus, Korbyn, I said I'm sorry!"

"I know! But that r-really doesn't make the s-situation any better! I'm j-just- I'm so _a__-a__ngry_!" I sniffed furiously, wiping my nose on the back of my hand. I pulled away from Mac, dragging my hands down my face to remove the tears. I'd been wearing a full set of eye makeup – eyeliner, eye shadow, mascara – so I probably now resembled a bitchy coal miner. I let out a miserable hiccup as my crying finally came to a juddering halt. "Can w-we move house?"

"_What_?" Mac removed his arm from around me and frowned. "Korbie, be fucking reasonable. Me and Kelly put every last bit of our money into this house."

"It was a j-joke, you a-asshole," I muttered, clearing my throat in a bid to start talking normally again. "I don't know how I can face even walking out the front door again. All those shit-heads are gonna be out there every day, and I know it won't take much for me to snap and go full-out fucking Attitude Era on their asses."

"I don't even know what that means," replied Mac, looking more than a little concerned for my mental well-being.

I rolled my eyes. "It means I wouldn't hesitate to beat them with ladders and steel chairs, among other things that could cause serious cerebral damage. But that's not the point I'm trying to make here."

"And what point would that be?"

"That I don't care what Pete Carter throws at me now. He's won Round One, I'll give him that. But now I'm ready for him. And I'm gonna hurt him like he's hurt me."

"Ohhh-kay." Mac nervously slid off my bed and started to back away from me. "You're starting to sound like Liam Neeson in _Taken_. Seriously, I'm waiting for you to say that you'll find him and kill him."

"Is that you giving permission?" I asked, grinning sadistically.

"What- no! Fucking hell, Korbie, you're scaring me now. You've got this crazy look in your eye."

"I have eyeliner on my eyeball- it's stinging. I look no crazier than usual," I assured him. I smiled at him, or attempted to get as close to a smile as I could. "Thanks for this, Maccy. I think I really needed it. Sorry for, like, freaking on you."

He paused his backing out of the room and leaned on the door frame, grinning back at me. "Hey, what are big brothers for? I got your back, Korbs. Fuck Delta Psi."

"I'd rather not," I quipped. "God knows what kind of STIs I'd contract. I'd probably get chlamydia just from sitting on their couch."

* * *

I still didn't leave my bedroom, though. I may have calmed down, but I was still in the kind of mood where it wouldn't take much to get me to crack completely. I didn't want Stella seeing that. So I stayed upstairs, changing into a comfortable outfit of leggings and a cropped top, doing what I was rapidly going to start referring to as _my _Architecture project and eating a box of Twinkies I'd found under my bed.

By the time it started to get dark, Delta Psi had finally finished moving in, the moving truck had gone, the squealing fangirls had fucked off and the frat boys had hidden themselves away in their new dwellings. Everything was just...quiet, which was exactly how I liked it around here.

By the time I did venture downstairs, it was about 11pm, and I was getting myself a glass of water before I got ready for bed. The house was near enough silent. Mac and Kelly had gone to bed about an hour ago, and Stella had been asleep for hours. I grabbed a glass from a cupboard and filled it to the brim with ice-cold water, leaning back against the counter and taking a sip before checking my phone for any messages. The silence was giving me time to reflect.

It wasn't often that I would admit this, but maybe I had actually overreacted earlier. All the screaming and the crying and the swearing; had it really been worth it? I mean, what had really happened? My ex-best friend moved in the house next door. Was that honestly such a bad thing? Mac was right, we wouldn't even have to see each other. I'd just...leave the house an hour early every day to avoid crossing our paths.

Yeah, so I had a major problem with Teddy too, but there was literally no reason for me to ever even consider seeing him. He was never in class, and he rarely actually left the comfort of the frat house. There was no reason for me to not carry on living my life the exact same way I had been for the last-

"DELTA PSI! DELTA PSI!"

Deafeningly loud music suddenly started blaring from next door, making me start so much that I dropped my glass of water, shattering it all over the tiles.

"CARTER!" I screamed, then clamped my hands down over my mouth as I remembered my family were sleeping. "_Shit_!" I hissed, straining to see if I could hear any movement upstairs.

I could. Fuck, I had managed to wake someone up. But before I could run up and apologize, I had to forage under the sink for the dustpan and brush so I could clean up the damn glass I'd dropped.

But apparently I wasn't even going to get as far as apologizing, because I could hear two sets of footsteps coming down the stairs. Sure enough, Mac and Kelly appeared in the doorway of the kitchen, both of them fully dressed, bleary-eyed and yawning.

"Guys, I am so sorry," I quickly said, dumping the glass into the bin. "I didn't mean to shout like that, and I definitely didn't mean to wake you up."

"What?" Mac frowned, rubbing his eyes. "No, you didn't wake us up, Korbie. It was the music. It's way too fucking loud."

"We're going over there and asking them to turn it down," explained Kelly, stepping into her sneakers.

"And you really think they're gonna listen?" I said dubiously.

"They should be grateful that we aren't calling the cops," she replied. "So they'll listen."

"Well, you sound confident, so I guess that's something," I said with a shrug. "Fuck it, I'm in. I'll come over too, provide some much-needed muscle."

"Are you sure that's the best idea, Korb?" Mac asked anxiously. "I mean, after this morning..."

"I'll be fine," I said dismissively. "If anything, this can be my way of showing that there's no hard feelings. It's like, 'yo, you caused me to have an emotional breakdown today, but we can be chill because I didn't have your ass arrested.' That's gotta count for something, right?"

"Um, I guess?" Mac voiced it more as a question than a statement.

"So it's settled then," I said, moving past him. I grabbed a pair of buckled Chuck Taylors I had lying by the door and pulled them on, along with a denim jacket, stuffing my phone in my pocket. "Let's rock and roll."

As soon as we stepped outside the front door, it was like stepping into a rave. Delta Psi was lit up like a fucking Christmas tree, with frat brothers and other random dickheads milling around on the front lawn. Naturally there were a ton of desperate bitches hanging around too, all of whom stared at me with discontent as I walked up the front pathway ahead of Mac and Kelly. I just winked at them and waggled my fingers in a patronizing wave, climbing the porch steps and banging my fist on the front door.

"Little forceful there, Korbyn," Kelly muttered.

"No, it was efficient," I retorted, just as the door opened, revealing Teddy Sanders himself.

"Hey! Mac, Kelly, Korbie-Korbyn. What's up?" he said good-naturedly.

"_Korbie-Korbyn_?" I repeated disbelievingly. "Seriously?"

"Er, we hate to be these guys," Mac quickly cut over me. "But do you mind just, like, kind of..."

"Just keep it down?" Kelly finished for him, sounding awkward.

"Just a little bit?" Mac added on.

"Yeah, man, my niece is trying to sleep, which isn't something she does too great at the minute," I said. "We'd really appreciate it." Huh. I actually had the ability to be civil with people. Who knew.

"Oh, the music?" Teddy clarified.

"Yeah, just a tiny bit," replied Mac.

"First off, my bad," Teddy said, before calling over his shoulder, "Yo, guys! Music check! We have neighbors, for Christ's sake! Come on!"

"Thank you!" Kelly said graciously.

"That's a big bong," Mac muttered, pointing over Teddy's shoulder. "Is that a two-story bong?"

"I really appreciate you guys coming by," Teddy said, ignoring the questioning. "These guys are out of control."

Mac and Kelly seemed so surprised that they barely knew how to reply. "Awesome, man," Mac managed to stutter out. "Well, thank you so much. That's all we wanted."

"Cool," said Teddy.

"Great," said Kelly.

"Shit's getting awkward now..." I mumbled.

Teddy cleared his throat. "See you guys around." The only way he could have been more obvious about wanting us to leave would have been for him to literally say, 'fuck off.'

The three of us turned around to go, and Mac said, "Okay, thanks man. Dope. Cool."

"See you in class, Ted," I said, heading down the steps. "Well. Maybe." I really wouldn't.

"You guys are so fucking lame," I hissed as the three of us began traipsing back up the path.

"What? What?!" Mac was comically affronted.

"You were hanging around like you wanted them to invite you in! It's just sad!" I told him. "Honestly, going to a frat party at your ages..."

"You're starting to sound like Mom," Mac grumbled, but he gave me a playful shove.

"Well someone needs to be the responsible adult in this household," I shot back. "And it sure as shit ain't-"

"Hey, slow down!" I was interrupted by the door opening behind us and Teddy shouting. Oh Jesus, what now?

"Hey, there they are! Where you going?" Oh good, now Pete had joined us. I felt my mellow, tolerant mood rapidly fading away. Kelly, Mac and I all turned around, and I didn't miss the pitiful looks of hope on their faces, either.

"Do you guys want to come in?" Teddy asked, gesturing into the house with his thumb.

"You don't want us to come back in," Mac said, but he and Kelly were moving back up the path so fast you'd think they were being pulled along a conveyor belt, Mac dragging me by the arm behind him. "I mean, no, we can't. We couldn't possibly. Are you serious?"

"I think you should," Teddy said with a grin.

"Come on!" said Pete, holding his arm up as a welcome gesture.

"No, we've got the baby, so..." Kelly weakly attempted to protest.

"Yeah, we've got the baby. We can't." Mac couldn't have sounded like he cared less about the fact we'd left Stella at home if he tried.

"Come on, just real quick," tempted Pete.

"You have the baby monitor right there," Teddy pointed out, gesturing at the little video feed Kelly had clipped to her belt.

"We do. It's working," Mac said as Kelly lifted it to her ear and listened to it.

"It works perfectly," she said.

"You're like ten feet away," said Pete. "Come on."

"Look, are we going in or not?" I exclaimed exasperatedly. "Because if we are, let's do it, if we're not, I want to go to bed!"

"Super quick tour, then," said Mac, grinning. "Just the tour, maybe."

"Just the tour," Pete confirmed.

* * *

It so was not just the tour. Almost as soon as we stepped through the door, Brooke and her gaggle of sorority girls grabbed hold of Kelly and dragged her off to dance with them, and Mac vanished into the crowd of frat boys to do magic mushrooms and smoke about thirty pounds of weed.

So I fetched myself a plastic cup of what I hoped was vodka and Coke and settled myself down on a an empty chair. I sat like that for maybe an hour, just watching the party go on around me and occasionally getting up to get another drink, when I decided to get my phone out to text AJ.

_Hey girl, please tell me you're awake. Major shit's gone down, seriously need to talk to you. Text ASAP. x_

I got a reply almost instantly.

_**Jesus Korb, where the fuck have you been all day! You haven't texted at all! I've been freaking the fuck out! What's up? x**_

_What's not up, more like. You know the place next to mine was for sale? Well guess who's moved in. x_

_**Don't play the noun game with me, bitch. Just tell me. x**_

_Delta. Fucking. Psi. x_

_**...that's a joke right? A really fucking sick joke? x**_

_Does it read like I'm joking? I'm literally here right now. They're throwing this huge housewarming rave or something. It's insane. x_

_**You're THERE?! What the fuck, Korbyn?! You're in enemy territory right now and you're completely defenseless! You're probably ingesting herpes just by breathing their air! x**_

_You can't ingest herpes, you idiot. Look, it's not like I'm wasted or anything, I am on fucking red alert right now. It's like I'm...scoping them out. Besides, anyone tries any shit with me and I'll have them in an octopus hold quicker than they can say fraternity. x_

"Hey Radner, don't sit all alone in the corner like a weird little hermit. Join the party!" I looked up from my phone to see Pete smirking down at me. I looked around the room. I'd been so engrossed in talking to AJ that I hadn't even noticed the room empty. It was just me, Pete and the deafening music.

"I'm perfectly fine here, thanks," I replied coolly, stashing my phone away and taking a gulp of my drink.

"Come on, Korbyn, if your brother can lighten the fuck up then so can you," he said, seeing fit to sit down on the arm of the chair. "Seriously, he's so high. Keep him away from the shrooms."

"Thanks for the advice. Don't worry about me, though. I'm about as lightened as I'm gonna get, babe," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Babe?" Pete's smirk widened. "You haven't called me that since we were in high school."

"Like I said. I've lightened up a bit. Don't get used to it though." And with that, I gave him a sharp shove, knocking him off the side of the chair. "I still hate you."

"Yeah, you made that pretty fucking clear today," he said, standing up with a groan and making a show of cracking his back. "You wanna talk about that?"

I snorted. "What, with you? Thanks but no thanks, Carter. You've made me feel shit enough today without hearing the reason you stood there calling me a psycho bitch and laughing in my face."

"That was out of line," he said quickly. "Like, seriously. I'll admit, that was a really shit thing for me to do."

"Gee, ya think?" I retorted, folding my arms. "Do you even realise how bad you made me feel today? I went home and I cried for fucking three hours. Three _hours_, Pete!" I could feel tears pricking at the back of my throat even now.

"You just went crazy!" Pete defended himself. "You have to admit that, Korbyn. I hadn't even said anything and you totally lost it."

"You called me a freak and basically questioned my sanity!" I cleared my throat, but a couple of tears broke free, dripping down my cheeks. "What happened to us, Pete? You used to be everything to me." Shit. Why. WHY had I just said that? I looked down at the near-empty cup in my hand. Fuck. Apparently I'd drank a lot more than I originally thought.

"Woah, Korbyn. That's one hell of a confession," Pete said, chuckling awkwardly.

Fuck it. The cat was out of the bag now. "Well it's true. You did mean everything. I loved you like a brother. The day you decided you were done with me almost tore me apart. We were eighteen, Pete! Eighteen and about to make one of the biggest decisions of our lives! And I _know_ you were going through a lot of shit with your parents, but I tried to be there for you and you completely shut me out! I needed you almost as much as you needed me, but you weren't there! You were never there! S-so I gave up! There w-was no point in e-even trying after th-that!" Cue more crying. Again. For the third time today, I was in floods of tears. I pressed my hands over my face, but my shoulders shook violently.

"Oh my God. Okay. Radner, don't cry. Jesus, please don't cry!" Pete practically begged. "Radner? Korbie, stop crying. Please. I'm sorry."

"It's been almost four years, Pete!" I sobbed. "You've never said sorry to me before, why should you now? Just to get me to shut up?"

"No, because you never gave me a chance!" he replied angrily. "The minute we started here, you basically avoided me!"

"Because you had made it very clear that you wanted nothing to do with me!" I shouted. "You just wanted to turn into another frat clone! I was nothing to do with your college plans once you decided you wanted to join Delta Psi!"

"Oh, you mean like I was nothing to do with yours when you joined Zeta Tau Phi?"

"I only did that to show you that I still wanted to be close to you! I thought if you saw I had similar plans, you'd stop freezing me out and open up to me again!" I wiped my face on the back of my hand and let out a laugh- a single, derisive 'ha.' "How fucking wrong was I!"

"I didn't fucking _want_ to do that do you!" Pete shouted back. "My fucking parents divorced, I didn't know how to deal with it! I didn't want people feeling sorry for me, and being a dick was the only way they wouldn't!"

"But why me?! I didn't feel sorry for you, I wanted to help you! You were my best friend, I'd have done anything for you! But you wrecked everything between us!"

"You think I don't know that?! I never wanted it to get so out of hand, but then the first day of Freshman Week, you turned around and said that you hated me! What the fuck was I supposed to do with that?! Get down on my knees and beg you to forgive me?!" he yelled.

"Yes!" I screamed. "That's exactly what you were supposed to do! I never meant it, you stupid asshole! I'd have forgiven you in a heartbeat if you'd just. Said. Sorry!" I punctuated those three words with three separate kicks to Pete's shins from my sitting position. "But it's too late now! Too much has happened between us! I don't want to say that what we had is completely irreparable, but I j-just don't s-see h-ow..." I dissolved into wordless sobbing, and completely unexpectedly, Pete grabbed my hands and pulled me into a standing position, putting his arms around my shoulders and hugging me close.

"I miss you!" I cried into his shirt. "I miss you so much!"

"Korbie Cat," he murmured into my hair, the nickname he'd given me when we were seven years old and I'd gone to his Halloween party as an infant Catwoman.

"Yo, Pete! Teddy wants you in the living room! We're- am I interrupting something?" Garf's voice filtered in over the music, and when Pete and I looked over at the doorway, there he was, staring at us and looking highly confused.

I pushed Pete away from me and wiped my eyes, clearing my throat. "No, Garfield," I muttered, walking away in the direction of the back yard for some fresh air. "You're not interrupting anything at all."

* * *

Teddy had gathered the main frat douches (IE, himself, Pete, Scoonie, Garf and a couple of other higher-up pledges) and Mac and positioned them in the living room to pose for a portrait. Yes, really. After I'd returned from my brief interval outside, I found the seven of them posed like they were in a seventeenth century painting of a war ship, humming like yogis.

"Looking good, guys," I commented, looking over the pledge drawing the scene's shoulder to see how it was going. All that was on the paper was three stick figures, a flower and a sun with a face on it. "You nailed them, buddy," I said, slapping the pledge on the shoulder encouragingly.

"Hey," Pete suddenly said, sounding totally stoned all of a sudden. "Do you guys want to see something amazing?"

"_Yes_, I want to see something amazing!" replied Mac, and everyone in the 'picture' relaxed their positioning. "What is it?" All Pete did was let out that hacking/coughing laugh of his and proceed to call the entire party into the living room.

"I know you're all wondering why I brought you here," he announced, standing in front of us all. He rubbed his hands together. "Behold." He adopted a look for sheer concentration, focussing his thoughts on God knows what. The next thing I knew, he...oh God. He had an erection. An erection he'd seemingly brought on at will. The entire frat - and Mac and Kelly - burst into cheers, but all I could do was stare at him with an eyebrow raised.

"Good job, man!" Mac praised from the chair he and Kelly were cuddled up in. "Yeah, take a bow!"

Pete smiled bashfully and waved his hand like it was no big deal.

"Wow," I said with a grin as everyone settled back into party mode. "Twelve years of friendship and not once did you tell me you were hiding this special, er...talent."

He grinned back and lightly punched me on the shoulder. "Well Radner, I think there's a lot you don't know about me." He jerked his head over his shoulder at the doors to the backyard. "So you want to get another drink."

I looked over his shoulder, considered his suggestion, then locked eyes with him and nodded. "I thought you'd never ask."

* * *

**A/N- I'd like to say that everything is all cute and cleared up between Korbie and Pete now. But I would be lying to you. She's not a complete pushover, even when she's drunk. They are far from fixed. But I ain't gon' give anything away, so I'll leave that where it is! I really hope you liked the chapter! Lemme know! Leave a review, follow, favourite, and thanks for reading! Xx Gee xX**

**PS- So, usual reminder that if you head on over to my profile, you'll find a link to a **_**The Girl Next Door **_**Polyvore collection with Korbie's party wear plus all the posters she has in her bedroom, and there's also a couple of links to videos I made for the fic that are on YouTube! XD Check 'em out!**


	5. Shots Fired

**A/N- *screams* I've passed 100 follows! THAT IS AMAZING! Thank you so much! I can't believe the response I've had for this, it means so much! Really, from the bottom of my heart, _thank you_! *clears throat* Anyway. Hey guys! I'm so sorry about the lack of updates, but I had a bit of a case of writer's block, plus I've been working on this new fic I'm hoping to post once I finish TGND, and I've had a few college deadlines to meet. Excuses out of the way, thanks so so much to Audrey, Guest 1, Guest 2 (not sure if you're the same person since you basically posted the same review twice, but thanks for the enthusiasm!), Cloudcity'sBookworm, Guest 3, Skylar97, Guest 4, Guest 5, Chels, Guest 6 and crystaltonics for reviewing!**

**PS- If it's any consolation on the 'slow update' thing, this is a pretty long chapter XD**

* * *

**Chapter Five- Shots Fired**

I hadn't been this chilled out around Pete for a very long time. I mean, that kind of goes without saying, but it was so nice to actually be around him and not want to kick him in the nuts so hard that his eyes bled. The two of us downed shots, danced together and basically attempted to catch up on the last four years. God, I hadn't realised just how much I really had missed this.

As the night drew on we found ourselves in one of the armchairs outside. Pete was sitting in the chair and I was curled up in his lap with my legs dangling over the arm. I'll be the first to admit that I'd forgiven him way too quickly, and I would probably be seriously regretting some shit in the morning. But right now, in my half-inebriated state, all I could think was that I was so happy we were going back to how we'd been before it had all gone so wrong.

"Hey, do you remember that trip we took to Coney Island in twelfth grade's Spring Break?" I said suddenly.

"What, you mean the one when you ate five corndogs, got food poisoning, shit yourself on The Cyclone, then struck out with that Abercrombie and Fitch model?" Pete laughed.

"Er, no, because I'm pretty sure that was you," I shot back. "I was the poor fucker sitting next to you when you shit yourself. I couldn't get the smell out of my dress for days after that!"

"I still think I should have sued for the food poisoning."

"I still think I should have sat in front of you."

"I didn't see you complaining about it then!"

"Well yeah, you had just exploded diarrhea all over the fucking place! You were sick, I was hardly going to bitch out at you, was I? I felt sorry for you and to be honest, I kinda thought you were dying. The only thought in my mind at that point was getting you off the ride and getting you cleaned up! You're welcome, by the way. The stains never came out of the sleeve of my cardigan."

"Think of how my poor mom felt with my pants, then."

I cocked an eyebrow at him. "I thought Mr Bernards cut you out of your pants and bought you a new pair from the gift shop?"

A embarrassed blush flared up on Pete's cheeks, and he scowled at me. "Come on Korb, you promised you wouldn't bring that up ever again!"

_Yeah, and you promised nothing could break us apart, so it looks like we've both broken our promises, _I thought bitterly. Out loud, what I said was, "Ouch, still a rough patch, huh? Poor baby."

Pete grimaced, nodding. "The mental scarring will never heal."

I laughed. "We should go back there some time, for old times' sake. Only we'll take our own food this time."

"We could go after graduation," he murmured, looking like he was thinking. "Go for a weekend..."

I nodded, smiling at him. "I'd like that. I'd like that a lot." We both took a moment to just look at each other, both of us grinning. It was like we were back in that picture from our high school graduation. The rest of the party - the music, the voices, the lights - just seemed to kind of fade away. It was just me and Pete, acting like best friends again. Then the illusion was completely shattered.

"NO, I'M BATMAN!"

Teddy's sudden shout made me start so violently that I fell straight out of Pete's lap, landing with a thud on the floor at his feet. I rolled to my front with a groan, pushing myself to my knees and looking around for where Teddy was so I could beat him with his own fist. He was sitting a little way away on another of the outside couches with Mac, and they were both spitting out different Batman impressions. Teddy was nailing the Christian Bale version, whereas Mac was apparently going for Michael Keaton.

"What the fuck are those asshats doing?" I demanded, glaring at the backs of their heads. I looked up at Pete, and he looked equally as confused.

"The fuck if I know."

"If that's the case, then I'm gatecrashing their little love-in," I replied, standing up and brushing myself down. "If there's one thing I can be accused of, it's being nosy." And with that, I skipped my way over to where Mac and Teddy were, kneeling down behind them and spreading my arms along the back of the couch. "Evening, fuckers. Whatcha doin'?"

"Hey! Korbie, you're into all the nerdy comic shit!" Mac said. "Who's Batman to you? Bale or Keaton?"

I snorted. "Neither. The best Batman is obviously Adam West." Nope, couldn't even take myself seriously. I burst out laughing at the looks of 'what even' on both boys' faces (though I was surprised Teddy even knew who Adam West was, much less that he was just...the worst Batman to ever set foot on the planet). "Oh my God, you morons, I'm kidding! But sorry, bro, I've gotta go with Teddy on this one. Christian Bale is Batman, and always will be, unless Ben Affleck pulls off a minor miracle."

"Ha!" Teddy exclaimed, jabbing his finger at Mac. "See? Christian Bale."

"You disappoint me, Korbyn," Mac said, his voice filled with mock betrayal. "Like, I can't even look at you right now. Run along back to your worst enemy or whatever the fuck is going on between you and Pete right now."

I shrugged. "He's my bud. My bestie. My brother." I pronounced it like 'bruthah.' "That's all you need to know."

"Hey!" Teddy exclaimed, drawing the 'ay' sound out in a real 'wink wink, nudge nudge' kinda way. "Look after him, Korbyn. Make sure he remembers it's bros before hoes."

I rolled my eyes and stood up. "Okay, for starters, I ain't no ho. Second of all, I was his bro _long_ before you were his ho, Sanders. Just remember that."

He snorted, looking surprised. "Damn, Radner. You've got one hell of an acid tongue on you."

I grinned at him. "You're damn right I do." I clapped a hand on Mac's shoulder and gave him a small shake. "Twenty-one years of learning from the best."

"Taught her everything I know," Mac said smugly, suddenly wrapping an arm around my neck and pulling my head down to give me a noogie.

"You jackass! You're ruining my hair!" I shrieked with laughter, swatting at him until he let go. "I hate you," I said, pouting.

"You love me," he retorted. "Now get outta here, you're ruining our manly time."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," I said sarcastically, but I pressed a swift kiss to his scruffy cheek before leaving.

"What the hell was that all about?" Pete questioned when I returned to him, shaking my head and trying to work out what my brother was on.

"They're Batman," I said simply, returning to my original position across his lap. The wind blew and I suddenly clutched at my bare arms. "Jesus, I am fucking freezing." It was about four o'clock in the morning and it had cooled down substantially outside. My denim jacket was somewhere inside, leaving me in the cold in just my cropped t-shirt and slashed up leggings. I absent-mindedly traced my fingers over the top of the dream-catcher on my hip, my skin cool to the touch.

"When did you get that?" Pete asked with a small frown. "I know you have that skull on your shoulder, but I've never seen this."

"Hm? This? Oh, I got this way before the skull. I got it a few months after we started Braxton," I said, having to think for a moment. "I was drunk, and I was out with AJ and a few of the Zeta Tau girls. I liked the idea of it, so I just sort of...did it. I've never regretted it though, it looks fucking awesome."

"Shit, you are cold," was all he said, following the shape of the catcher with his own finger. "Here, stand up for a second." Pete shifted me back to my feet and stood up himself. He unzipped his Delta Psi hoodie and shrugged it off, holding it open behind me so I could push my arms into the sleeves. At five foot five to Pete's five foot seven (and a half, he would always remind me), his hoodie was just that bit too big for me, the hem settling along the tops of my thighs and the sleeves dangling just below my fingertips.

He turned me around so he could zip it up for me. "There. No more chills."

"Thanks," I said quietly. His hand lingered on the zipper where it rested in between my boobs. Neither of us said anything to start with, we just sort of stared at each other. He leaned forward. I cleared my throat and took a small step backwards, running a hand through my black and blue curls.

"Let's go dance," I said quickly, grabbing his hand and dragging him back into the house where half the party had remained, bumping and grinding to stupid techno music that I really hated. But even as we stood in there, twirling each other around, laughing, joking, teasing, my mind was elsewhere. My mind was still outside.

I think…I think Pete had tried to kiss me.

* * *

"Hey. Wakey wakey, Sleeping Ugly." Pete's voice filtered into my hazy subconscious, dragging me up from whatever sleep-filled depths I'd been in. My eyes fluttered open, and his grinning face slowly came into focus. "Nice one, Korbs. First person to pass out. We should get you a medal for that."

"What?" I mumbled, sitting up on the couch I was lying on and rubbing my eyes, smearing my makeup halfway down my cheeks. "Pass out? What the fuck are you talking about? I didn't even drink that much." Did I?

Pete snorted. "You didn't until we came back inside. Then you suddenly bugged out about something and started downing every shot you could get your hands on. You passed out on the couch about two hours ago."

"Two hours? Jesus, what time is it?" I yawned, stretching my arms out in front of me and cracking my knuckles.

"Like half past six. I think Mac and Kelly are getting ready to go; Kelly thinks Stella's gonna wake up."

"I better get out of here then," I said, looking around the room. "Don't suppose you've seen my jacket around, have you?"

"Right here," he replied, holding it up. "Your phone's in the pocket," he added, handing it to me.

"Thanks, bro," I said, putting subtle emphasis on the 'bro.' I folded the jacket over my arm and clucked my tongue against my teeth, trying to work out how to word my next question. "Listen…this stupid project we've got for class…I really can't do it by myself and there's no way we'll get a decent grade on it if we only work on it during class."

"Hey, I never said you had to do it by yourself," he said defensively.

"No, I know," I said quickly. "I just mean that I can't do it by myself _outside of college_. So, like, I don't know, if you're not doing anything later, do you want to, like, maybe, come over this afternoon so we can maybe, sort of, get another few solid hours done on it? If you want?" Why the fuck was I stuttering like a nerd about to ask the head cheerleader to prom?

Pete grinned, throwing a gentle punch at my shoulder. "I'm down. It gets me out of helping these assholes clear this shit up."

"Yeah, you're welcome." I rolled my eyes heavily. "So give me a few hours to nap this hangover off and shower and shit. Basically, come round any time after like, one. If that's cool."

"Korbie, chill out with the 'if that's cool' stuff. I'm hardly gonna say no."

I glared at him, my defensive guard flaring up. "Well excuse me for being a little concerned that all this has just been brought on by a few bad drunk judgement calls. It's not like you've given me any concrete reason for wanting to be friends again."

"Hey, don't start," he said quickly, cupping my elbow in what he probably thought was a calming manner. "I'm bored of the fighting, Korbs. Isn't that enough for you to believe I want us to be how we were?"

"Well, yeah," I admitted. "But-"

"Korbyn!" Mac interrupted, calling to me through the open back doors. "Come on, we gotta go! Stell's gonna wake up soon and she'll freak the fuck out if no one goes into her!"

"Guess that's my cue," I said, waving at Mac over Pete's shoulder so he knew I'd heard him. "I'll see you this afternoon, then?"

"Damn straight. Catch you later, Korbie Cat."

"Laters, Petey." We suddenly broke into our old secret handshake. We'd come up with it in the third grade and it had stuck with us all these years: double high-five, double low-five, fist bump, backhand slap, chest bump, clasp hands and back slap. Sad, I know, but come on. We'd been like eight.

I grinned at him and headed out the doors, joining Mac, Kelly and Teddy out on the front lawn. It was still early enough that the sky was an amazing dusty blue edged with pink. This was why I would always love being an early bird rather than a night owl. Last night had been a huge exception to my usual sleeping pattern of early to bed, early to rise.

"Epic night!" Mac was cheering as I drew up to them. "Crazy! Like, I owe you, man." He and Teddy high-fived. Was it weird I kind of shipped the bromance brewing between them?

"I really needed that," Kelly said, sounding borderline liberated. Poor woman, it really had been a while since she'd let her hair down.

"That was a pretty fucking hot night," I admitted, smiling. "Nice going, Ted."

"Well hey, I never knew you had it in you to actually be fun, Korbyn," he replied, grinning back.

"Thanks. I think." I didn't really know if that was a compliment or not.

"So, yeah, again, if you could generally just kind of, you know," Mac said sheepishly. "Keep it down." He tried to look cool by doing the gang sign thing again. Suffice to say, he failed miserably. Kelly tried to do the same. She looked just as bad. He decided to finish up his request with, "That would be fucking...that would be trill." I had to bite my tongue to keep from bursting out laughing.

Teddy looked comically confused. "You really want us to keep it down?"

"Yeah, like, every night," Kelly confirmed.

"If you could try to keep it down?" added Mac, like she hadn't made that obvious.

"I'll give it the old college try," Teddy allowed.

"Nice!" Mac pointed at Teddy in appreciation. "That was good!"

"How's that? So just make sure, if we're too noisy, you call me first," Teddy said. "Don't call the cops, okay?"

"Okay. Yeah, for sure," Mac agreed.

"Do you promise?" Now Teddy was the one pointing at Mac.

"I promise."

"Do you promise?" Now he shifted his finger to Kelly.

"_I _promise."

"You promise? Okay, because a promise is a big deal to me." Now Teddy looked at me. "What about you, Korbie-Korbyn? Do you promise?"

I just smirked at him. "Cross my heart, bud."

* * *

My phone had gone crazy in my absence. Three missed calls and God knows how many texts, all from one AJ Riley.

_**Bitch, you better not be going soft on me. Remember who the enemy is! X**_

_**Korb, dammit, reply! What's going on at Casa el STD? X**_

_**Korbie, seriously, why aren't you replying? Holy shit, you're fucking Pete, aren't you? X**_

_**Korbie, I'm starting to actually think you are. Answer me! Jesus Christ, woman! X**_

_**KORBYN MARIE RADNER, REPLY TO YOUR FUCKING TEXTS!**_

_**You're dead, bitch. Dead. They're not going to find your limbs until they wash up on a beach in Guam. ANSWER. YOUR. TEXTS.**_

I was going to answer her. Really, I was. But, admittedly, the second I walked through my bedroom door I just collapsed on my bed, flat-out asleep again. I did not function well on two hours of drink-fuelled napping. I re-awoke at just gone eleven, feeling a hell of a lot fresher. After I completely puked my guts out. Then I was straight into the shower to freshen up, as I smelt like alcohol, aftershave and regret.

I changed into a pair of shorts, a loose black t-shirt that read _Stress Is Caused by Giving a Fuck _and cute little black cat pumps. I ran a curling iron through my hair a few times to get some good volume, painted on a ton of makeup to cover up the blotchiness of my sleep-deprived skin and deemed myself acceptable for human contact. As I was heading down the stairs to grab myself a sandwich for lunch, my phone started ringing, The Shield's entrance theme blasting out around me. I looked at the caller ID- AJ. Shit. I'd never replied to all those messages she'd sent me last night; I was about to have hell to pay.

"H-hey AJ," I answered guiltily. "What's up?"

"Well it's nice to know you're not fucking dead," she spat. "Jesus, Korbyn, what happened to you last night?! One minute, you were answering me every thirty seconds, then...nothing! I was bugging out, I thought the Deltas were hazing you or something!"

"You can't haze someone who isn't a frat brother, moron," I sighed, rolling my eyes even though she couldn't see me. "Look, I got side-tracked with Pete, is all. Nothing major."

"With __Pete__?" she repeated, sounding scandalized. "You got __side-tracked __with __Pete__?! Oh my God, you did fuck him, didn't you?! You had angry, ex-best friend sex against his bedroom wall."

I couldn't help but splutter into disbelieving laughter, the accusation was so absurd. "AJ, are you fucking serious?! No, we did not have sex! Jesus H. Christ! We...look, we made up alright?"

Now it was her turn to laugh. "You made up? You and Pete made up? Korbyn Radner actually had a civilized conversation with Pete Carter that didn't end with you drop-kicking him in the face?"

"I know, insane, right? But it's true. We just...talked everything out. And I think we're actually getting back to how we were before."

"Before he ditched your ass, you mean?" AJ said bluntly.

"I mean...yeah, before he ditched my ass. Thank you for putting it so charmingly, Amira."

"Well, I'm sorry, but I think you're forgiving him way too quickly!" she said. "I can still remember the complete wreck he'd left you in that first month we were in Zeta Tau! You were so...quiet. All the time. Any time we saw him around campus, you just shut down. Forgive me for not wanting you to end up like that again!"

"I'm not going to!" I practically shouted into the phone. "Amira, it's not like that this time! I mean, Jesus, we're legally adults! I'm hardly going to be jealous of him having other friends, just like he won't get jealous of me having other friends. Because no matter what happens with me and Pete, you're always gonna be my best friend, A. Because you were there for me when he wasn't, and no one can replace you for that."

"I like to think no one can replace me anyway, bitch," she said dryly, but I could just tell she was smiling. "I just don't want him to hurt you again."

"He won't," I said firmly, opening the fridge and grabbing some carrot sticks and a can of squeezy cheese. "He tries that shit with me again and I'll have him on the floor with a ruptured lung, three broken ribs and a cracked hernia. And you can believe that."

Finally, AJ actually laughed. "Oh, trust me, babe, I really do."

"Hey, talking of broken ribs and cracked hernias, you're still coming round after class tomorrow, right?" I put the phone on speaker as I squirted the canned cheese on to the carrot sticks and started munching.

"Er, duh. It's Monday tomorrow, like hell would I be missing Raw. It's fucking tradition, what makes you think I'd be doing anything else?"

"Didn't know if you and Dana were doing this bullshit project or not."

"Yeah, right, like that was ever an option. I told her I'd do that shit with her in class, but out of college hours, we are not friends."

"Damn, girl, you're cold."

"Ice bitch and proud, motherfucker."

The doorbell suddenly rang. I heard Mac's plodding footsteps, followed by, "Yo, Korb, it's your boyfriend!"

"Shut the fuck up, Mac!" I yelled back. "Sorry, AJ, gotta go. Pete's here, and we _are_ actually doing this stupid project out of college hours."

"Sucks to be you," was all she said, and the next thing I knew, I was listening to the dial tone.

"Bitch," I muttered, stashing my phone in my pocket and heading into the hall. Pete was leaning against the wall, arms folded, face set in a smirk. "What's up, fucker?"

"Sweet as ever, Korbie," he joked, but we put our arms around each other in a close hug. "Ready to kill this?"

"If I don't kill myself first," I replied. "Seriously, I can't believe how fucking boring this is. I want to design apartment complexes, not fucking septic tanks."

"Everyone has to start somewhere," he joked as we started to head upstairs. "Why not both?"

"Because I have enough shit in my life as it is," I quipped.

"Hey!" Mac suddenly appeared at the bottom of the stairs, feet planted firmly apart, arms folded. "Where are you two going?"

"Er, my room?" I said, frowning. The fuck was his problem?

"And you're going up there alone?"

"Mac!" I shrieked, blushing furiously as Pete burst out laughing. "Are you fucking serious?! Yes, alone! We're twenty-one years old, we're not fucking thirteen!"

"I'm just asking," he said innocently, raising his hands. "Just remember, though, I'm like a fucking ninja. I could walk through that door at any time."

"The conversation is over!" I yelled, grabbing Pete by the hand and pretty much dragging him up the stairs. "It's over! Go back to your wife and daughter! We have homework to do! Shut up, Pete!" I snarled as he continued to laugh.

"I'm sorry!" he managed to choke out. "But that idea couldn't be any funnier if it tried!"

"Shut up and get in there," I snapped, forcefully shoving him through my open bedroom door, which I made a point of slamming behind us.

"Nice decor," Pete said dryly, eyeing up all my posters. "I didn't know you were still into all that WWE shit. I don't think I've watched that since I was like, twelve. Who are these clowns?" He gestured at a picture of Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns.

"Yo, back up," I warned, opening my bag and pulling out our poster and my pencil case. "Don't insult my baes, or you can get the fuck outta my house."

"Changing the subject, then," he said quickly, making himself comfortable at the end of my bed, still looking around the walls. "God, you're such a fucking nerd, Radner."

"You're digging yourself a hole, Carter," I replied calmly, not even looking at him as I cleared space on my desk. "I recommend shutting up before I stuff my Spider-Man down your throat and asphyxiate you with it. 'Kay?"

"So let's get on this project," he said quickly, leaping up from my bed and taking a seat on my desk chair. Get on it we did. We worked near non-stop for five hours, punctuating the constant writing with trips to the kitchen for bottles of Coke and bags of chips. By the time it rolled around to six in the evening, you could practically see the smoke coming off of the pencils that had barely left the paper since we'd started.

"Jesus fucking Christ, we did good," I said appreciatively, dropping my pencil and massaging my now-cramping hand. "We are gonna nail this so hard."

"Of all the ways to phrase that," Pete said with a chuckle.

"You perv," I laughed, punching his shoulder. "Grow up. I meant we're gonna ace it."

"Sure you did, Korbs," he said, winking. "I don't judge."

"Oh, shut up," I said, kicking his chair so it wheeled clean into the opposite walls, making him jolt violently.

"So compassionate," he said, rolling his eyes and standing up. "Look, I gotta get going. Me and the guys have some people coming over tonight, I should help set up."

"_Another _fucking party?" I groaned. "Are you joking?"

"It's not a party!" he said quickly. "It's...an intimate get-together."

"Name one time Delta Psi has _ever_ had an 'intimate get-together,'" I retorted.

"Tonight."

"Don't be a smart-ass. Seriously, Pete, you guys can't keep doing this! You're not on the college grounds anymore, you're in what's usually a quiet suburban street! We don't want any part of this shit! Why do you think I dropped out of Zeta Tau? Because I hate parties and drinking and loud music! Last night was beyond a huge exception!"

"Korb, chill out." Pete rolled his eyes. "We're not gonna like, trash the streets. I swear, we're only having a few people over. They'll be gone before midnight, I swear."

I pursed my lips doubtfully. "You swear? You know how I feel about promises, Pete."

"Oh my God, you sound like Teddy," he groaned, dragging his hands down his face.

"Er, I'm not trying to be funny, but the last promise you made me was that you wouldn't let college change our relationship, and look what happened."

"You're seriously gonna hold that against me still?"

"If the shoe fits, bitch."

"Korbie!" Pete grabbed my hands and pulled my close to him, angling my head up to look at him. "I know I hurt you, but it was a long time ago. Yeah, I've regretted it ever since, but four years is a fucking long time to hold a grudge. Anyway, how did we even get on to this? I thought we were talking about tonight's Delta Psi party, or lack thereof."

I sighed. "It's really not gonna be a party?"

"Really," he said sincerely. "And you know the deal we've got going on, if we're too loud, just call. We'll shut up."

"Alright, fine," I lamented, nodding once. "I'll believe you. But just to be clear, if you wake me up tonight at _any point _after half ten, I'm gonna be pissed. And by pissed, I mean I'm gonna cause you so much pain you will not see straight for three weeks. Got it?"

Pete smiled. "I got it. Just as long as _you_ promise you really won't call the cops on our asses."

I made it look like I was thinking about it, then I repeated the same thing I'd said to Teddy this morning. "Cross my heart. Hope to die."

* * *

"I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL HIM!" I screamed, slamming my head down on my mattress, trying to block out the noise of next door's fucking rave without much success. It was three fifty-three in the morning. _In the morning_! And Delta Psi had had this fucking 'intimate get-together' going since eight o'clock! SEVEN HOURS!

We were all awake here in the Radner household. Me, Mac, Kelly and Stella had barely slept. Stella, at least, had managed to grab a few hours before those obnoxious cunts had decided to really crank their shit music up so loudly the walls were shaking. I had surpassed feeling pissed about three hours ago. Now, I was furious. Flat-out furious.

There was a knock on my door, and it opened, revealing Kelly, who was holding a burbling Stella in her arms. "Korbie, are you awake?"

"Kel, my eyes are open. I'm definitely awake. How could I not be?"

"Those little pricks next door keeping you up too?"

I yawned and sat up, rubbing at my eyes and nodding. "I'd be lying if I said it was because I'm cold. Where's Mac?"

"In our bedroom, trying to call Teddy. Again. I just took Stella downstairs to get her a toy, she's getting so ratty."

"_Again_?" I repeated. "How many times has he tried?"

Kelly shrugged, clearly stifling a yawn. "I lost count. Maybe seven? More, probably."

"For fuck sake. Those ignorant fuckers," I snarled, pushing my covers back and practically falling out of bed in my haste to find my brother. "Mac!"

"Korb, shut up!" he exclaimed as Kelly and I walked into the room. "I'm on the phone!"

"Woah, bro, I'm not the problem here!" I said defensively. "Don't get shitty with-"

"Hey, Teddy!" he suddenly said into his phone. "It's Mac again, your neighbor! You said to call if it was ever too loud, so we're calling! It's too loud! Can you please keep it down?! It's four in the morning, our baby's awake! She's freaking out! Thank you!" He hung up the phone and looked between me and Kelly. "Ten times. I've called him ten times. What do we do? If we actually go over there and tell them to keep it down, we're gonna seem so _lame_!"

"We're gonna have to call the cops," Kelly said desperately.

"We call the cops?" Mac sounded conflicted. "He told us not to call the cops!"

"Do it anonymously!" she suggested.

"They are clearly beyond reasoning with, bro," I said. "I don't give a shit what we promised them. They said they'd try. They haven't fucking tried."

"So we get the cops to do our dirty work for us," Mac said.

"We're cool, they shut up, Stella goes to sleep. Done," said Kelly.

"We have no blood on our hands," added Mac. "We're innocents. We're innocents in all this. Right?"

"Yeah, Mac, right. Stop being a pussy-bitch and phone the damn cops," I grumbled.

"But...it just feels so _wrong_..." he muttered, trailing off.

"Oh, for fuck sake!" I snapped, ripping his phone out of his hand and dialing in the number for the Ardendale police station. I got an answer after three rings.

"Hello, Ardendale City Police Department, how can I help you?"

"Hi, um, I'd like to make a noise complaint."

* * *

Mac, Kelly and I hid behind the living room curtains, watching and waiting for the cops to show up and shut next door down. It had been about fifteen minutes since I'd made the call, and I was actually starting to feel a little guilty. Were the cops _really_ needed? Maybe if I'd just called Pete instead of jumping the gun like that...

"Here we go, here we go!" Mac suddenly whispered, jolting me out of my thoughtful stupor. Sure enough, a police cruiser was just pulling up outside next door. "Here we are. Okay. I feel so lame. I can't believe we called the cops."

"What's this 'we' I'm hearing?" I hissed, glaring at him. "I'm the one who did the talking."

"True. This goes totally ass-up and we can blame it all on you," he retorted. We were silent as we watched the cop get out of his car, just as Teddy, Pete, Garf and Scoonie all came wandering down their front path, each looking highly confused.

"They can't tell it's us," Mac murmured, but it sounded like he was trying to convince himself of the fact. "They don't know it was us. Could've been anyone." Kelly agreed with him. "Anyone of these people could have called." Mac still sounded like he was convincing himself.

"We're not gonna get caught for this," said Kelly, sounding far more confident than her husband.

"Anyone would do this," said Mac. "This isn't because we're old." That was when the cop talking to the frat boys pointed over at our house. I let out a shriek and dropped to the floor, out of sight: we'd been made. _Fuck_!

"Oh shit!" yelped Mac, both he and Kelly ducking behind the curtains. "Oh shit!"

"Oh no!" gasped Kelly.

"That's it," I groaned from my position, sprawled on the floor. "We're done for. I can no longer go back to college, because I'll be known as the boring sad-sack who called the cops on Delta Psi. McDonald's application form, here I come. What's going on out there?"

"The cop's coming to the door! He sold us out! Oh fuck! Teddy's coming with him!" Mac sounded like the verbal embodiment of 'rabbit in the headlights.' "Fuck, they're coming up the driveway! Oh shit, they're coming!" There was a brisk knock on the front door. "Oh shit, they're right there!"

"Fuck my life, man," I moaned, standing up and starting to creep into the front hallway. "Just fuck it."

"We're just getting dressed!" Mac called as they both came into the hall after me. "I'm naked!"

"No, I see you guys right there," the cop replied.

"Act like you just woke up," Mac whispered as Kelly opened the door, both of them yawning loudly, obviously and extremely fake. I just stood there, arms folded, my hair already tosseled from lack of sleep, trying not to squirm uncomfortably at the cold outside air biting the skin exposed by my shorts and tank.

"Hello, are you Mac?" the cop said. According to his name badge his name was Watkins.

"Yeah. What's happening?" he yawned.

"Your little sister called about your neighbors?" Cop Watkins asked. I went even paler than I was. Shit. Caller ID. They would have had fucking caller ID! SHIT!

Mac quickly shook his head. "No? Nope."

"I have a call. It says it's from Mac Radner. That's you, right?" Watkins questioned. "But the voice on the line was female. Too high to be older than early twenties. That's you?" He looked dead at me, and I just shrugged, trying not to make eye contact with Teddy, who was stood just behind the cop.

"How do you have that information?" Mac frowned.

"We have caller ID," the cop said, and I internally groaned. I hated being right "We're cops. Everyone has caller ID. You're Mac Radner. Your sister called us. Why did you call us?"

"I called the cops because you jackasses can't keep fucking quiet!" I exploded, glaring at Teddy. "Mac called you like ten times! But you just can't stop fucking partying, can you?!"

"Officer, you know how it is," said Mac fairly.

"We're just trying to get to sleep, we have a little baby!" added Kelly. "Mac's working in the morning! Korbyn's got college!"

"They were at the party with us just last night!" Teddy exclaimed.

"Did you party with this kid?" Watkins asked.

"We don't party with them!" Mac insisted.

"We shouldn't be in trouble, we haven't done anything wrong!" Kelly said.

"We have a baby! We are parents!" Mac affirmed, putting his arm around her and squeezing.

"Well then, what do you call these?" demanded Teddy, and he handed the cop his phone. It was playing a video, and the audio on it was pretty damn clear.

"_I'm too fucked up! Ahh! Ahhh!_"

"Well, it looks like you guys were partying with him," Watkins said, holding the phone round to us and displaying the picture of a clearly-totally-off-his-head Mac. "You partied pretty heavy."

"That is a joke photo!" Kelly said quickly.

"It's a joke?" Watkins said. "It's not a good joke."

"Okay, you know what?!" Mac suddenly exclaimed, throwing his arms up. "Let's end this! I'm sorry! We rescind the complaint! You can go. No noise complaint."

"You know the boy who cried wolf?" Watkins said rhetorically. "You're that boy."

"Fine, we're the boy. We cried wolf," I said, my tone hard. Boo-hoo-hoo.

"Never call us again," he warned.

"Never call you again?" Mac repeated incredulously. "You're the fucking police!" All Watkins did was stare at him before he headed back to his cruiser. Teddy, however, remained on the doorstep. "Look man, we're sorry," Mac now said to him. "You were being noisy. We tried to call you, I don't know what to say. We called you like five times, you didn't answer."

"You made a _promise_ to me last night!" Teddy said, sounding pretty offended. "We were pissing! We crossed streams!"

"Don't worry about it, you know?" Mac said, trying to sound chill. "'Hey, I'm Batman.' You know? Right?"

"No, we're done with that, bro," Teddy snapped.

"Teddy, we're sorry," I said guiltily. "Can't we just start over? Forget this happened? It's not like any of you got arrested, it's like nothing even happened!"

"I'm not mad," Teddy cut over me. "I'm just disappointed."

"Teddy," I said again. "Don't do this. Come on, we're-"

But again I was interrupted as he held out a two-pack of kids' walkie-talkies to Mac. "Those are for you," was all he said before he walked off.

"Mac, what are they?" I quietly asked him.

"Oh man," he mumbled, looking after Teddy's retreating figure. I headed back upstairs not long after. Some serious shit was going to go down tomorrow, I could feel it. My eyes were just fluttering shut when my phone suddenly vibrated with a text. I grabbed it from my bedside table and unlocked it, trying to see through the suddenly glaring light. It was from Pete.

_**Cross your heart, huh? Looks like we're both fuck-ups at keeping promises, Korbyn.**_

Korbyn. I couldn't even tell you the last time Pete had used my full name when he wasn't ripping the shit out of me. I clenched my phone in my fist and gasped out a sob, tears leaking from my eyes and dribbling down to my pillow.

* * *

**A/N- And now it can only get worse, amiright? So, I'll stick in the usual apology about lack of updates but, you know, college and all that. I really hope you liked it anyway! Let me know! Review, follow, favourite! Check out the various links on my profile! Love you all! Bye! Xx Gee xX **


	6. Meet the Fuckers

**A/N- ****You guys. Seriously. I am just…so blown away by the amount of positive feedback I'm getting! I'm so happy that you actually like my sense of humour (because God knows, not many people do) and that you think Korbyn is a character you can relate and ****sympathize**** with! Really, it means everything to me! So absolutely ****humongous**** thanks to Skylar97, Psyclon, NO, Cloudcity'sBookworm, Kiwiflea, Audrey, Chels, Raging Raven, Guest 1, crazyeclarelover and Guest 2 for reviewing!**

* * *

**Chapter Six- Meet the Fuckers**

"Shut the _fuck_ up!" I grumbled, whacking around the bedside table until my fist came into contact with the snooze button of my alarm clock so heavily I'm amazed I didn't put my hand straight through it. I rolled over, rubbed my eyes then let my arms flump down as I stared at the ceiling. It was Monday morning.

The morning after the night before.

Jesus, I felt so sick. It was six forty-five. I had an hour before I needed to leave for college. An hour before I had to step outside and face the music. I'd made a really stupid mistake last night. Why, _why_ had I called the cops?! It wasn't like anyone was shot! No one died! I could try to blame it on the fact I was so tired I wasn't thinking straight, but somehow I didn't think that would sit all that well with Pete. _Pete..._

I'd fucked up, big time. I'd said- no, I'd _promised_ I'd call him if they were being too loud! I'd sworn I wouldn't call the cops! But I done the same thing he'd done to me four years ago: I'd broken that promise. And instead of feeling happy about that, instead of feeling like I'd got some kind of petty revenge, that we were even now, I just felt...wrong. Dirty.

Was skipping college an option? No, probably not. That made it look like I had something to be guilty about, and I so did not...did I? _No, Korbie, stop it! You had no choice! _I thought desperately, sitting up and stretching my arms over my head. I grabbed my phone from the side table and unlocked it. No new texts from Pete, thank God, though there was one from AJ.

_**Wakey-wakey, baby guuurl. If you can get Maccy boy to give you a ride in today, then I'll drive us back to yours after class. PS- how'd studying go with our boy Pete? ;) x**_

I blew out a sad sigh, brushing my hand through my hair. There was no way I could explain what had happened to AJ through a text. It'd have to be face-to-face. I rolled out of bed and stuck my head out my bedroom door. I could hear various movements downstairs, so I knew the family was definitely up.

"Mac?" I called.

"Yeah, baby sis?" he yelled from what I tried to pinpoint as the kitchen.

"Is it cool if you give me a ride to class today?" I asked sweetly. "AJ says she'll drive us tonight!"

"If you can get ready by half past seven, then sure. If not, you're walkin'."

"Deal. Your challenge has been accepted."

"Then you have forty-five minutes, kiddo. Engage!"

I practically sprinted into the shower, getting soap in my eyes approximately three times in my haste to get fresh as quickly as possible. I then tripped over my own feet to get back to my bedroom, where I dried out my hair with my blowdrier, painted on my makeup with surprising precision despite the speed my hand was moving at. I could hear a lot - and I mean a lot - of noise coming from outside by this point.

It wasn't hard to work out that it was coming from next door. Nice, they were probably rioting or something. Shit, what if word about last night had reached the dean and she started getting all pissy about the college's rep and her fucking stupid 'three strike' policy bullshit?! The Deltas already had one strike after they burned down their last place. What if I was responsible for their second? One more and they were out.

I shook my head violently. This. Wasn't. My. Fault. This was why I tried not to have too many friends. I found it way too easy to feel guilty about things that, honestly, I didn't have a whole lot of control over!

I realised that I hadn't actually bothered replying to AJ yet, so I tapped out a quick reply. _Maccy says it's cool to drive me. See you in the lot at half 8. x_

Sticking with mine and AJ's other usual Monday tradition, I picked out today's outfit that consisted of my favourite Hounds of Justice t-shirt, grey skinny jeans and black boots. Well, at least I _looked _like I hadn't only had an hour and a half of sleep. That had to count for something. I fastened the K necklace Mac had gotten me for my birthday around my neck, dragged a brush through my knotty hair and grabbed my bag, sighing. It was time to get out there and face the music.

"You ready, Korbs?" Mac asked me as I reached the bottom of the stairs where he and Kelly were. Stella was all wrapped up in her baby chair.

"Ready as I'll ever be," I said glumly. "Where are you and Stel off too, Kelly?"

"There's an early morning Mummy and Me swim class today," she replied, sounding just as enthusiastic as I felt.

"I thought you hated going to Mommy and Me?" I questioned with a frown.

"No, I like going, I just hate all those dumb bitches I have to go with," she corrected.

"I feel ya there," I muttered, gently rubbing under my eye to avoid smudging my makeup. "Let's roll, none of us need to be late on a Monday morning, for God's sake."

"After you, then, sister dearest," said Mac with a roll of his eyes, and he opened the front door for me with a flourish. But nothing prepared me for what was happening on our front lawn.

"You shouldn't have called the cops, bro!" Teddy's taunting voice rang out.

"What the _fuck_ are you doing?!" I shrieked, running down the front steps into the complete mess our yard was in. The Deltas had totally trashed the place. There was toilet paper _everywhere_, empty cans, random crumpled sheets of paper, plastic bottle and..._dear God, please let those condoms be unused..._

"Okay," Mac said tonelessly, but I noticed his hand gripping his bag strap just that little bit tighter. "Very good."

"You better put that in the recycling bin!" Kelly said weakly.

I was a little more vocal. "Are you kidding me?! Are you _fucking_ kidding me?! What the fuck have you done to our yard, you stupid little boys?!"

"Oh God, we've woken the beast!" Pete shouted, waving a sheet of paper around his head. "Everyone, take fucking cover!"

"Mature, Pete!" I snarled. "Real fucking mature! What the fuck is that anyway?" I pointed at the paper.

"Oh, this?" he said innocently, lowering his arm. "Nothing much. Just a little retribution. Take a look, we've got plenty." He gestured good-naturedly at the paper littered around the lawn.

I snatched the paper from his hands, my jaw dropping when I saw what was on it. It was a picture of me, perhaps the most unflattering picture of me I had ever seen. It was from a good few years ago, that much I knew because I didn't have any blue in my hair and I was lying on what I recognized as the sofa Pete had in his room when he still lived with his parents before they divorced.

I was fast asleep, my mouth hanging open, a little drool on my chin, and my arms were stretched above my head. I was wearing a tiny little pair of spider-print shorts and a black shirt that was open, displaying my yellow smiley-face bra to the world. Oh Jesus, I remembered this. Pete had thrown a party while his parents were away for the weekend. Everyone had gotten completely wasted, and I'd stripped off and passed out in his bedroom because I'd been staying over for those few days.

Why the _fuck _had Pete taken this photo? And more importantly, why the _fuck_ had he kept it all these years?! AND WHY THE FUCK HAD HE PRINTED OFF ABOUT FIFTY COPIES AND STREWN THEM AROUND MY FRONT GARDEN?!

"You complete fucking jackass!" I screeched, crumpling the picture up and throwing it at his head, where it hit him square in the eye. "You're fucking dead to me, Pete! Dead!"

"Oh, boo hoo, whatever will I do without a snitchy, psychopathic whiner in my life?" he mocked, barking out a laugh.

_If I'm such a psychopathic whiner then why did you try to kiss me Saturday night_?! I nearly screamed.

Instead, I went to lunge at him, but I felt a hand close around my wrist. I turned around, and thankfully Mac was the one holding me. "Korbie, forget it. Forget him. Let's just go."

I clenched my fist and locked my jaw, but nodded once, allowing my brother to gently pull me in the direction of his car.

I climbed in and slammed the passenger door shut, letting out a scream as soon as I did so. "What is their fucking problem!? I apologized! Hell, _we_ apologized! What more do they want from us?!"

"Apparently they want us to go back in time and not call the cops," Mac muttered angrily, starting the car and pulling away. I'm sure it was a complete accident that he almost ran over 'Assjuice' in the process.

* * *

Mac and I didn't really speak all that much on the drive to Braxton. I was just beyond angry at how low the Deltas had stooped, and I think he was pretty ticked too, not that he'd show it. He was too chill a guy. I really envied him for that sometimes.

AJ was waiting for me in the parking lot when we pulled up, sprawled along the hood of her blue VW Beetle. She was looking effortlessly pretty, as usual, in her high-waisted shorts, Converse and black t-shirt with…oh shit.

"Well, this is awkward," I said once I got out of the car after saying bye to Mac, the two of us looking down at our matching t-shirts.

"I thought you were Brie Mode-ing?!" she groaned.

"The colour black and snarling wolves suited my mood better," I muttered, awkwardly playing with my necklace.

"Uh-oh, have you and Pete had a little lovers' tiff already?" she teased, playfully nudging me. "Don't think I didn't notice you avoided answering my question this morning."

"Amira, just don't, okay?" I snapped at her.

She blinked. "Woah, sorry. The fuck's your problem?"

I instantly felt bad. "I'm sorry, it's just…everything's gone back to square one with us when we'd barely made it to square two and a half. I made a stupid mistake last night, AJ. A really fucking stupid mistake."

Her face softened, and she made me sit next to her on the hood of the car. "Oh God. Come on, tell Auntie AJ everything."

I took a deep breath and completely let rip. I explained everything that happened, starting with Saturday night's escapades – missing out the part where Pete had possibly tried to kiss me - right up to when I'd left the house this morning. I barely stopped to breathe, yet it looked like AJ could actually understand what I was saying. I finished my rant with, "And this morning I walked out the front door to find the assholes had completely trashed our front yard, and to top it all off, there were these flyers everywhere with a beyond unflattering picture of me asleep in just a bra and shorts that Pete must have taken when we were in high school! He's just suddenly reverted back into that boy I absolutely despise literally overnight! I just don't know how to fucking fix it this time!"

AJ remained silent for a few moments. Then she blew out a lungful of air and simply said, "Shit. Like…shit. I don't even know what the fuck to tell you, bro."

"There's nothing to really say," I said emotionlessly. "I fucked up. That's all there is to it."

"Oh, babe." AJ wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into a tight hug which I returned. "You didn't fuck up. He promised you that they were gonna be quiet, and he broke his promise. Again. The way I'm looking at it, you didn't have a choice. I mean, you've got Stella to think about, not just yourself. She's a little baby, she needs sleep. It isn't your fault that those cocksuckers are so far up their own asses that they can't think about anyone but themselves."

"But it was all going so well," I mumbled into her shoulder. "I really thought we could be us again. I thought…I thought…"

"Hey." AJ released me from the hug and took my face in her hands, looking me dead in the eye. "Stop it. You don't need him. Okay? He's been nothing but an ass to you since freshman year, and you're better off without him! All he does is fuck your head up and confuse the shit out of you, and I'm not having it anymore! If I even see a _hint _that you're going back into that shell you had around you because of him, I'm gonna fucking break his dick off!"

I flinched back from her sudden outburst, actually a little unnerved. "Damn, AJ, keep your feelings in, why don'tcha."

"Well, I'm sorry, but I had to say it," she said, breathing heavily. "You're my girl, Korbs. I'm not gonna sit back and let this moronic excuse of a boy drag you back down again. You did the right thing. Okay? Please believe me."

I wrapped my arms around myself tightly like I was giving myself a hug, but I nodded. "I'll try to believe you. Is that good enough?"

"For now," she allowed with a grin, forcing her arm through mine and linking us together. "Now give me a smile and we can get our pretty little asses to class." I bared my teeth at her half-heartedly, and she pulled a face back at me. "Close enough. Come on, let's rock and roll, biatch."

"Rock and roll, motherfucker." I really did smile now, and the two of us skipped our way to the Architecture lab, still arm-in-arm.

Oh-so predictably, class with Pete was absolute hell. It was literally like the weekend had never happened. It was straight back to arguing, making digs at each other and calling each other names, though I got a few new ones added to the mix: liar, snitch and backstabbing bitch were being thrown around a lot.

I tried to ignore it, really I did. But for the first time in a lot of months – if you ignore Saturday morning's outburst - his words were actually getting to me. Gone was Korbs, Korbie, Korbie Cat, replaced with these words that should not have been hurting me as much as they did. By the time it got to half past three, the end of my second class, I'd had enough.

I gathered up my folders and my pencil case, stuffing them in my bag and waiting outside the door for AJ to finish her conversation with Dana. You know, because I'm polite like that. They were the last two out of the room, having hung back to talk to Bright about something.

"...so I'm really not sure what to do," Dana was chirpily saying, completely unaware of just how bored AJ clearly was. "Because purple is my favourite colour, but yellow really compliments her fur, so I just don't-"

"Dana!" AJ suddenly exclaimed, cutting across the poor girl. "Sweetie, remember that conversation we had? We're not in school hours now. We don't speak during these hours, do we?"

"I'm sorry, I just-"

"Okay, see you on Wednesday," AJ said sweetly, grabbing my arm and dragging me down the hall in the direction of the nearest exit. "My God, does that girl ever shut up?" she grumbled.

"Oh, leave her alone, A," I said lightly. "She's a sweetheart, even if she is vaguely obsessed with her cats."

"I hate cats," she said bluntly as we emerged into the sun outside. She rummaged around in her bag and pulled out her car keys, holding them up and clicking them to unlock her Beetle.

"You hate anything with four legs," I said with a roll of my eyes, opening the passenger door.

"That is not true!" she argued, strapping herself into the driver's seat and backing out of the space. "I also don't like ducks."

* * *

Monday night may have been my favourite night of the week. AJ and I would go to one of our houses (AJ had ditched being a sorority sister the same time I had, moving back in with her parents who lived forty-five minutes away) straight after class ended, kill a few hours doing any homework or watching crappy videos on YouTube then settle down for three glorious hours of wrestling goodness before we went to bed. The weeks we were at mine, Mac would take Kelly and Stella to have dinner with Mom and Dad as soon as he was home from work, and they never got back until at least nine. This gave AJ and I a good five hours just by ourselves.

And we absolutely loved it.

I was in the kitchen, waiting by the microwave as I whipped up some food for AJ and I, when the TV in the living room suddenly exploded with noise, followed by a shriek from AJ as she tried to turn it down.

_Tonight is the night__.__  
Bright lights, hype crowd.__  
Yeah, we came to throw down__,__  
Everybody get loud.  
__Tonight is the night__._

"Korb! Hurry the fuck up, it's starting!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, do you want raw popcorn? No? Then shut the fuck up!" I skidded my way into the living room, clutching a six pack of Budweiser and a huge mixing bowl filled with butter popcorn. "I am trying to provide nourishment for our evening, forgive me!"

"You take too long!" she whined, but she sure as hell wasn't complaining as I sat down, considering her hand automatically dived right into the middle of the popcorn bowl.

"I hate you," I grumbled, cracking open my bottle of Bud.

"You love me," she returned in a sing-song voice, throwing the popcorn at me.

"Oh, shut up and watch the damn TV," I snapped, but I was smiling. I just couldn't be mad at her.

We didn't have any actual conversations for about an hour and a half. Oh, we spoke, of course we did. It just wasn't exactly coherent speech. Instead, we were mostly yelling at the TV, chanting out, "_This is awesome!_" complete with the five claps, throwing the appropriate shade where applicable and just generally fangirled the fuck out.

But as the show went to commercial again, I suddenly blew out a huge sigh.

"What's up with you?" AJ asked, frowning at me as she tucked her legs up underneath her. "Come on, cheer up, our boys are on after the break, and we all know you can't stay pissed with anything when Reigns lets out that roar. Don't think I don't see you get all squirrelly. Plus, it's gonna make the shame of wearing matching t-shirts all day so very worth it."

"No, I'm fine, it's just-" I sighed again, running my hands through my hair. "I can't get this shit with Pete out of my head."

AJ let out a long, loud groan as soon as I said his name. "Korbyn Radner, you are one obsessive little bitch. Do you not remember my charming rant this morning? You. Don't. Need. Him."

"I know that, AJ, I just...I mean...we..._argh_!" I let out a small scream and buried my head in my hands. "Look, don't get mad with me, but there's a small factor I may have missed out from my party story."

"Oh my God, how can there be any shit left to hit this gigantic fan?" she asked.

"You'd be surprised," I muttered, draining the rest of my second bottle of beer. "Pete...he, er...he...we were outside. It was like four in the morning. I was freezing cold, so he let me borrow his frat hoodie. He put it on me, zipped it up then just kinda...lingered there. I froze. Then he leaned in and...and...and he tried to kiss me."

Silence. Flat silence. I had actually stunned Amira-Jane Riley into being completely speechless. I sat there uncomfortably, picking at the skin at the edge of my thumbnail, waiting for her to say something. Anything. _Dear God, please let her say something._

"This doesn't shock me as much as it should," she finally said, looking at me with her deep brown eyes.

"Er, what?" I said incredulously. "Then why the fuck were you quiet for so long! You don't ever stay quiet, why the fuck would you stay quiet now!?"

"I've been trying to work out how to word this," she said delicately. "You know I think that you and him left a lot of stuff unanswered when you stopped being friends, and that's why you affect each other so much. Deep down, you both know how you feel about each other, but you're not willing to let it show, so it comes out as this awkward hatred. You find it easier to scream abuse at each other than actually be kind. That's why your attempt at being friends again imploded after a grand total of forty-eight hours. Your subconscious' both know that you can't be just friends anymore."

I opened my mouth. I closed it. Opened it. Closed it. Opened it again. "What. The fuck. Did you. Just say."

She sipped her beer intelligently. "I took Psychology for four years in high school. Got As all the way through. I know my shit."

"AJ. There is nothing like that between Pete and I," I immediately protested. "Please stop saying that."

"Well, I'm just saying, it's the only logical explanation I can think of for why he would try to kiss you. I mean, other than the fact you're smokin' hot."

I snorted violently. "Damn, Riley, you're so smooth I'm about to fall on my ass. My explanation is that he got way too into the moment. Or maybe I was giving out the wrong signals...I don't know, both of us were pretty drunk and I've forgotten a lot of what we were talking about. It just...it really confused me."

"Yeah, I can tell," she replied, rolling her eyes. "Look, I won't press the issue if you don't want me to. I'll keep my mouth shut for the rest of the night."

"Thank you," I said gratefully, turning back to the TV as the commercials had finally ended. "Now, let's watch some A-grade ass-kicking."

But no, AJ just _had_ to get in a final opinion. "I'm just sayin', the signs are there, and they're pretty strong."

"Hey. You wanna know what other sign is strong?" I asked her innocently, and AJ nodded. I merely flipped her off. "This one."

* * *

The shit between the Radners and the Delta Psis grew and grew over the next three weeks. And by the shit grew I mean my family and I tried to get on with our lives while the Deltas did everything they possibly could to make our lives _hell_.

They trashed the front yard on a bi-daily basis.

Pete used his oh-so clever art skills to trim one of the shrubs outside into the shape of a woman bending over, that Mac then proceeded to sexually assault to get it out of the ground (I may or may not have actually taken pictures of that to post on Facebook).

Mac and I got smacked clean into the ground by a wayward yoga ball one morning as I went to drive him to work in exchange for some cash.

I was informed that, one night I was staying at AJ's, Mac and Kelly had decided to have sex on the sofa, unaware the entire frat was watching until it was far, far too late.

"We can't be the only people in the neighborhood who are sick of this bullshit, you know," Mac muttered as we headed out one Sunday afternoon to take Stella to the park.

"We've gotta get everyone on our side," agreed Kelly.

"We could lead a revolution!" said Mac.

"Um, that may be a little difficult, you guys..." I muttered, looking around the street.

"Oh no," groaned Mac, seeing what I was seeing. The entire of Delta Psi was wandering around the neighborhood, taking people's trash out, doing some gardening, litter picking, helping the elderly across the street. It was manipulation at its finest, and I was begrudgingly a little impressed with their tactics.

"They're buying off the whole neighborhood with their slave army!" Mac hissed, aghast.

"Well, that's it then," I said hopelessly. "We're the only people on this street left with half a brain between us. Oh God, I think I'm gonna puke," I added, watching Scoonie give Mrs Haywood a few houses down a hug and a kiss.

"Mrs Haywood, you're better than that," Mac said, sounding bitterly disappointed for her. "What are we gonna do about this, you guys?" I asked, looking at them and frowning. This whole situation had just got a lot more complicated than anticipated. "We're completely on our own now."

"There's only one solution I can think of," Mac mumbled, looking up at our house. "Looks like you might get your wish after all, Korb."

"My wish?" My frown got even bigger. "The fuck are you on about, bro?"

He didn't reply, he just looked thoughtfully at Kelly, who looked like she actually understood what in the hell Mac was talking about.

I found out exactly what he meant a couple of days later, when a way-too-peppy realtor turned up on our doorstep Tuesday afternoon to go through the possibility of us selling our house. It was like a goddamn family meeting: Mac, Kelly and I all sat facing the realtor as Stella sat in her highchair, burbling away to herself whilst I tried to both finish up a large section of my now doubt doomed Architecture project (Pete had helped me out exactly twice since the fight) and listen to all the crap relating to the house. I was sprawled across a second sheet of A3 paper - the second part was actually finished upstairs, thank God; it was due in tomorrow.

After looking through various bits of paperwork, deeds, bills and the such, the realtor simply told us, "I can't sell your house."

"Why?" Mac and I exclaimed in unison, me looking up from my paper. This bitch could not be fucking serious.

"Well, because the only people who would want to live next to a frat house, is a frat house," Miss Realtor informed us. "Oh! The university might be interested. I know the Spanish department is looking for a new building."

"There! See?! Let's just sell it to the Spanish!" I said, throwing my scissors down with a bang. "We move out, they get a shiny new building, everyone parties like it's their _cumpleaños__._"

"The only thing is," Miss Realtor added, sounding a little less enthusiastic. "If you sell to the university, I'd say - optimistically - you're looking at losing around half of your investment."

Mac let out a disbelieving scoff. "Half of all our-"

"This is all our money!" Kelly cut over him, outraged.

"We can't lose half!" said Mac.

"But, you keep half!" the realtor said confidently, waving her fist in the air.

"We don't need 'that'!" Mac exploded. "What is that?!"

"Sold!" Miss Realtor cheered.

"And you keep making money no matter what!" Mac was getting more and more irritated by the second.

"Real estate is a fickle bitch," Miss Realtor said, still awkwardly trying to remain chipper, but Mac and Kelly had just had enough.

"Okay, maybe it's best if you just go," Mac pretty much ordered, both him and Kelly standing up. The realtor followed suit, attempting to apologetically interject, not that Mac would let her. "Thank you for coming. That was not helpful."

That was when I saw movement outside in my peripheral vision. My head snapped up, and there, gathered out by the window that faced the grassy split between our house and next door, was nearly every Delta Psi frat brother. And they were...they were...well, I had no fucking clue _what_ they were dressed as, to be honest.

"What are you wearing? What are you doing?" Kelly asked them as she and Mac stood under the archway that separated the dining room and the lounge.

"We're throwing a Robert De Niro party," answered Teddy nonchalantly. "Should be pretty fucking loud. Probably gonna get pretty fucking late too."

"Okay, out of all the really fucking stupid ideas you ass-monkeys have had," I said with a scowl, joining Mac and Kelly. "This is the fucking stupidest."

"Well, Korbyn, you're welcome to join us if you don't call the cops again," he mocked, sipping his beer. "I'm _Taxi Driver _De Niro."

"Yeah, I'm _Meet the Fockers _De Niro," added Pete, who was pulling a face like someone had duct taped shit under his nose. He gestured to his eyes then at us. "I'm watching you, I'm watching you!"

I snorted. "Substitute the 'O' for a 'U' and you'll get the title of a movie you guys belong in."

"Who painted that mole on your face?" demanded Mac, pointing at Pete's cheek. "Did you do that yourself?"

"Yes I did. Yes I did, Focker."

"Who are you?" Mac now directed at Garf.

"Oh, I'm Sam Jackson," he replied. "You know, from _Jackie Brown_."

"HOO-AH!" Scoonie suddenly shouted, and the rest of the frat picked up on it until the sound was echoing in my eyes. Man, I really hated these jackasses.

"That's Al Pacino!" retorted Kelly. "_Scent of a Woman_?"

"There's no consistency here!" Mac fumed. "You're all over the place with your references!"

"You're upsetting Jinxy Cat!" said Pete, holding up a stuffed toy cat.

"Oh, shove Jinxy Cat up your ass, Carter!" I snarled.

"Just stop doing this stupid shit!" Mac angrily begged. "We're sorry!"

"Hey, when you called the cops, you violated the circle of trust, Focker!"

"We're sorry we called the cops, okay?!"

"I would like to point out that I really am no longer all that sorry," I said, raising my hand.

Teddy removed his aviators and pointed to himself. "Are you talkin' to me?"

"Yes!" the three of us in the house cried in unison.

"Are you talkin' to me?" Now it was Pete's turn.

"Yes!"

"No, you're talkin' to me." Cue Scoonie. It was 'hoo-ah' all over again, with every single frat boy repeating the line over and over again, with Garf suddenly knocking on the window and spitting out some random Samuel L. Jackson quote.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" Mac snapped at him. "That's the wrong Sam Jackson speech!" But still they kept going with the De Niro'ing. Even the realtor joined in, though Mac and Kelly promptly told her to shut the fuck up and get the fuck out. The sound just kept growing, and growing, and growing, getting louder and louder...until I snapped.

"Shut up!" I screamed. "Shut up, shut up, _shut up_!" I suddenly turned back to the dining table and knocked everything off it with one sweeping arm motion. I seized my scissors and the three-quarters-finished final sheet of the Architecture poster and began systematically shredding it, right there in the middle of the living room.

I threw the scissors down and was left breathing heavily, my fists clenched around ribbons of paper that I then tore apart with my bare hands. I then threw those shredded bits of paper out the window, where they fluttered down around Teddy and Pete like snowflakes.

"Enjoy the F I've just guaranteed us, Petey," I bit out, grinning psychotically, before reaching out and slamming the window shut so violently the glass shook.

"Korb, what the fuck did you just do?!" Mac questioned, looking concerned. "You've been working on that for fucking days!"

"It's fine," I said, way more off-handedly than I felt. "That's only half the project. I finished the other half a week ago. There's enough there for us to get a D or C." Y'know, maybe. Honestly, right now, the last thing I was caring about was a shitty grade for a shitty project that counted for absolute shit. All I was doing was relishing in the look of absolute panic Pete had worn as I threw that half of the project in his face. I smirked again as I headed up to my room, even if no one saw it but me.

_Korbie Radner: 1  
Pete Carter: 0_

* * *

**A/N- Well, self-five for actually taking less than a month to update. That, my friends, is progress. So yeah, I really hope you liked the chapter! I know not a lot of movie stuff happened, but I really wanted to focus on Korbie and AJ's relationship with this chapter, so let me know how you liked that! A review is the traditional way, though I'm not opposed to a note in a bottle! (Just kidding, a review is fine ;]) Xx Gee xX**


	7. Korbyn's Revenge

**A/N- Wow, guys. I'm pretty sure we're nearing on a year since I last updated. I honest to God didn't mean for my writer's block to last so long, but I just could not drag up any inspiration. Turns out, all I really needed to do was watch the movie again after the hiatus, because ideas then hit me like a ton of bricks. I'm still gonna be cutting time between this and my WWE fic, **_**Speared Through The Heart **_**(which you should totes check out if you haven't and you're a fan) but I hope to update more regularly. So, huge, huge, HUGE thanks for your continued support, and especially to Cloudcity'sBookworm, Guest 1, Guest 2, Guest 3, Audrey, Raging Raven, DoneWith, Guest 4, Guest 5, Guest 6, Guest 7, Guest 8, Mo, Guest 9, Guest 10, xxTheChocoholic14xx, Emmy07, Guest 11, 13Death'sAngel13, Guest12, Guest 13, HopeAndHeartache, Guest 14, DoodleBisch, meangirl8, rinpup14 and Guest 15 for all your reviews during my time away! Now, on with the chapter at last!**

* * *

**Chapter Seven- Korbyn's Revenge**

'Swag' was one of those words that made my tongue kind of feel like a cactus had taken a shit on it if, for whatever Godforsaken reason, I used it aloud. It was used by those who were either uneducated, desperately trying to come across as cool, or were Justin Bieber. Ironically, three of the things I despised most in the world.

And yet, as I climbed out of my car Wednesday morning, still way too smug about what I'd done the afternoon before, the only word I could use to describe myself was swag. Dressed to kill in tartan jeans, studded boots and a black cropped top that had skeleton hands cupping my boobs, my hips swayed side to side as I sashayed my way into college; I was ready to own Pete in a way I never had before. I had the actual part of our project tightly rolled together in my bag, hidden from sight.

When I walked into the Architecture lab, Pete was already sitting at our desk, drumming his fingers against the plastic table top anxiously. I smirked again. Good. Let him suffer thinking we were gonna fail spectacularly.

"Mornin' Carter," I said cheerfully, taking my seat next to him and stashing my bag under my chair.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Radner?!" he spat, his face a hilarious picture of furious shock at my apparent indifference.

"Not much. Lack of sleep, mainly," I replied nonchalantly, taking a nail file out of my pencil case and starting to neaten up my thumbnail. I then looked up at him through wide, innocent doe eyes. "Why? Should there be?"

"You're the one who fucking destroyed our project, you tell me!"

I feigned innocuousness. "Pete, relax. I'm sure everything's gonna work out nicely."

"You're damn right it will," he growled, and I couldn't stop my mouth from twitching into a fleeting smile for a split second before I composed myself, because this was just too good. "I'm looking forward to _you_ having to explain to Bright why we suddenly don't have a project to hand in."

"Oh, believe me, so am I," I said perkily, kicking my legs up and resting them on the desk.

"Legs off the table, Korbyn, how many times do I need to tell you?" Hm, speak of the balding devil and he shall appear with his ringbinders. I did as the professor asked, and I saw Pete smirk, though his eyes still looked worried. He was clearly relishing the idea of me getting my ass verbally handed to me by Bright, but was freaking out about us failing. Oh-ho, this was gonna be _so good_.

Bright took his usual position at the front of the room, wiping the whiteboard clear of any stray marker stains. "Well, everyone, the time has come for you to present your waste disposal projects. I know this doesn't count towards your final grade but the mark you receive will still be recorded so I sincerely hope you've worked as hard as I expected you to. I'll quickly take Attendance and we'll go from there."

Everyone was in class, _sans_ Teddy, of course. I really wondered why Bright ever bothered calling his name now; he hadn't actually turned up for class since before the project got set. For an hour, I sat through three other projects. Lena and Britney had a standard PowerPoint with pictures and videos and got a B. Michael and Tommy had actually rigged up a kids' dollhouse to have a flushing toilet and pipes that had running water and everything to demonstrate their idea (I suspected Tommy had done 90% of the work, given that Mike was almost as dumb as Teddy) and got an A. Andrew and Carson had also gone the PowerPoint route, which was another B.

I had my head leaning on my arms, practically fighting to keep awake, I was so bored. I was in the process of stifling a huge yawn when Bright announced, "Pete, Korbyn, you're up." Both of us rose to our feet, and again Pete was wearing that expression of fear/grim excitement. "Do you have your project?"

"Yeah Korbyn, do we have our project?" Pete derisively asked me.

"Of course, sir," I addressed Bright. I picked up my bag, placed it on the desk, opened it and pulled out the rolled up A1-sized poster that was the finished half of the project. I tucked it under my arm and flounced past a frozen Pete and through the few desks to the front of the room, where I tacked the poster up on the whiteboard.

"What the fuck?!" Pete yelped before he could stop himself. Oh my God, the look on his face was absolutely priceless as he came to realise just how little of the project I'd actually destroyed.

"Everything okay, Pete?" I questioned sweetly.

"Yes, are you alright, Pete?" asked Bright. "You seem a little putout."

Pete's face was an incredible shade of mottled red, but he managed to calm down and his skin soon became the normal Abercrombie model-tan it usually was. He shook his head. "Er, yeah. Yeah, sir, I'm fine."

"Well then, perhaps you would actually like to join Korbie by the board and help present?"

"Yes sir." Pete shuffled his way to me, sending a very subtle death-glare my way that only I could see.

"Aw, did the poor ickle piss-baby fink he was gonna get a bad gwade?" I whispered to him in a baby voice.

"What the fuck is wrong with you, Radner?!" he hissed back.

"So, as you can see," I began, turning to the class and pointing at the paper, totally ignoring his question. "Pete and I decided it would be best to use pipes made from a PEX-based -"

_Sierra. Hotel. India. Echo. Lima. Delta. Shield._

Oh fuck. I was totally interrupted by my phone bursting into The Shield's entrance theme in my pocket, vibrating up a storm. What the actual hell? "Shit, I am so sorry about this!" I pulled out the phone, all set to reject the call, when I saw who it was.

Mac. He never called me when he knew I was in class. He knew I had my presentation today. There was no way he would have called unless...unless it was serious.

Still, this panic didn't stop me sounding very uncomfortable as I awkwardly answered the phone in front of the entire class. "Mac? Bro, I'm in class right-"

"Korb, you need to leave! Now, right fucking now, and meet us at the emergency room!" Mac cut across me, his tone frantic.

"Hospital?!" I exclaimed, my panic setting in completely. "What's happened!?"

"Stella, she – on the lawn – we were cleaning – she found it – she just put it in her mouth – we didn't know what it was!"

I turned my back to the class, well aware of everyone staring and listening. "Mac, you need to slow down! What has Stel eaten? A slug, a spider?"

"A condom!" he yelled hysterically. "Those fuckers next door left all their trash on the front lawn again! She just fucking shoved it in her mouth!"

I nearly dropped my phone. God knows what fucking diseases those asshats had! If that condom had been used…and Stella put it in her mouth…I'd kill them. "I'll be there as soon as I can," I said darkly, hanging up the phone and putting it back in my pocket.

"Korbyn, is there a problem?" Bright asked. "Are you okay?"

I ignored him. Instead, I turned to Pete – who looked very nervous, given that Mac had been so loud he'd probably heard every word – with murderous fury etched on my face. "You sick, sick SONS OF BITCHES!" My voice built in volume until I screamed the final word, and before I could think about what I was doing, my palm connected with Pete's cheek in a violent slap that echoed around the room. He reeled backwards, clutching at his face, but I didn't stop to survey the damage; I just went back to my desk, grabbed my bag and sprinted from the room. I didn't even look back as Bright called my name.

I didn't stop running until I'd reached the student lot and my Fiat. I tossed my bag in the backseat, whacked it into drive and headed out of the lot so ferociously that my tires screeched in protest. My heart pounded in my chest the entire drive, and I found myself speeding, going at least 45 in a 30 zone. And I ran a stop sign. So, no doubt I'd have a ticket turn up in the mail in the next few days, but right now, I couldn't have given less of a shit if I'd tried. My niece was in the ER, I didn't care about anything else.

Though apparently, I'd been a little...ambitious with my speed so I actually ended up arriving at the ER before my brother and sister-in-law. After checking with the receptionist that no one under the name Radner had been admitted, I awkwardly sat in one of the hard plastic chairs, waiting. I tapped my nails on my checkered knee, trying not to pay attention to the screaming children, whiny old people, broken bones and germs surrounding me.

I was about to get up and re-check with the receptionist that Stella definitely hadn't been admitted yet when I heard the commotion coming from the corridor outside of the waiting room. Thundering, running footsteps. Banging doors. And...oh God. The sound of Mac and Kelly yelling. Yup, sure enough, about thirty seconds later the ER doors burst open and in they ran, Mac clutching Stella to his chest, proceeding to yell incoherent demands at the terrified-looking receptionist. I jumped to my feet and joined them...just as the receptionist threatened to call security if they didn't calm down.

"Woah, no, okay, everybody chill!" I quickly interjected, muscling my way between Mac and Kelly and the reception desk. "No need for security," I said to the receptionist before turning to Mac and Kelly and adding, "No yelling either."

"But-!" Mac started to protest, but I put my hand over his mouth.

I looked back at the receptionist. "My niece found a condom on our front lawn and put it in her mouth," I calmly explained, much calmer than I felt. "We don't know if it was used, so please, can you test her? Please."

The receptionist now looked beyond hassled, but she told us to sit down and that a doctor would be out shortly. Sure enough, about ten minutes later a dark-haired male doctor came through and called for Stella and Kelly. Even though we probably weren't supposed to, Mac and I followed them through. We weren't prepared to sit in ignorance while they ran the tests on Stella.

It felt like we were in that examination room forever. It wasn't even like the testing itself took all that long. They swabbed the baby's mouth, took a small amount of blood and somehow got her to piss into a cup. Standard stuff. It was the waiting around for the results to come back that was borderline unbearable. We were all so worried, unsure if we were about to be told that Stella had managed to contract some sick STI from those motherfuckers.

But eventually, the doctor returned with his clipboard in hand. He flipped back a few sheets of paper, read something, then looked at us and gravely said, "Your baby...has HIV."

My stomach dropped out of my ass as I tried to take in what had just been said, reaching out and pulling Stella off Mac's lap and into my arms. Mac sat in horrified silence as Kelly let out a pained cry and clapped her hands over her mouth. Stella...no...she couldn't...she was just a baby...

"-is how bad this _could _have gone," the doctor continued. "The condom was unused."

A small pause to process this new information. Then...

"WHO THE FUCK SAYS THAT TO A COUPLE OF PARENTS?!" screamed Kelly, lunging at the doctor. In that second I decided that it would probably be best to let Mac deal with his hysterical wife. I muttered something in his ear about taking Stella home in my car and proceeded to quickly vacate the building before the whole family got arrested because Kelly assaulted a doctor.

* * *

Later that evening, Mac and Kelly decided to take some time out and went to do the grocery shopping, so they left Stella with me. I didn't have any problem with it; the poor little girl needed to relax, she'd had a way too manic day by any seven-month-old's standards. So, after changing the two of us into our PJs, I sat on the floor next to Stella as she happily played around on her baby mat.

It was nearing on 7PM when my cell rang from its spot on the coffee table. I hoisted Stel up onto my hip and grabbed the phone, checking the ID.

"Hey A," I answered, sitting down on the couch and laying Stella next to me, handing her a stuffed dog as I did so.

"Damn, Korb, you sound chill as fuck," AJ remarked.

"That's because I am. Okay, no, truth be told, I only calmed down about two hours ago," I said. "But I'm babysitting the little lady so I can't afford to be pissed off." I paused to blow a raspberry on her belly, causing her to giggle.

"So mature," she mocked. "You know, I'm surprised you picked up. I've been thinking about calling you all day, but I didn't wanna get in the way of anything serious."

"AJ, you know I'd have made time for you, no matter what was happening. Well, unless someone was actually dying but you get the picture. Don't suppose you'd be willing to fill me in on what happened after my great escape?"

Immediately, AJ began to laugh. "Oh man, Korb, I wish you could have seen it. Pete had this fucking huge handprint on his face when he turned around. And let me tell ya, that shit wasn't just red, it was _scarlet_. Looks like you've got one hell of a swing on you, Radner."

I giggled. "Why thank you, Miss Riley."

"Any time. Yeah, so, he turns around, everyone sees this great fuck-off handprint and just starts laughing. Bright shut everyone up eventually – he literally looked so done – and told Pete to get on with the presentation, and that he'd 'deal with Korbyn later.'"

"That doesn't sound too good," I gulped.

"Nah, you know how soft Bright is. If only he had the balls he thought he did. You'll get a tap on the wrist and that'll be it. Now, stop fucking interrupting me, woman! Jesus!"

"Sorry. Continue."

"I will. Anyway, the half of Pete's face that wasn't bright red went this kind of sickly white colour. Bright asked him what was wrong, and he mumbled something about you having the notes. Bright frowned at him and goes, 'Surely you don't need the notes? You and Korbie _have_ been working together for the last month, after all,' but the way he said it made me so sure he knew that Carter barely helped you at all."

I went to say something about the fact Pete had helped me about three times outside of college, but had a feeling that AJ would verbally decapitate me if I interrupted again.

"Pete then went from white to green in the space of about zero point three seconds," she continued. "I swear to God, I thought he was about to puke. Still, he turned to the poster and started to just read from it. He was tripping over the words, stuttering, mumbling…Jesus, Korbs, it was a trainwreck. Somehow he got to the end, and while Bright didn't seem pissed, he wasn't exactly impressed either. Said something about missing some key points, but that you were looking at a D plus, or maybe a C minus optimistically. I take it the 'key points' were on the half you fucking shredded last night?" I'd been straight on the phone to AJ once I'd calmed down enough to tell her what had happened.

"You'd be correct," I said, letting out a long sigh of relief. I hadn't failed. Thank God. "I'm a little disappointed I missed that, you know. Any opportunity where I've made Pete squirm with discomfort is a win for me."

"So you wanna actually tell me what happened? I mean, you got that call from Mac, and within like three seconds you'd bitch-slapped Pete through the wall and bolted."

I sighed again, heavier this time. "Stella, she…found an open condom on our front lawn and put it in her mouth. We didn't know if it had been used or what - turns out it hadn't - so Mac and Kelly were freaking out which sort of set me off too. Should I have hit Pete? No, I can admit, probably not. But if something had happened to Stella…and it had been Delta Psi's fault…I just saw red, and I snapped."

"Holy shit, babe," AJ whistled lowly. "Don't even think that you shouldn't have hit that son of a bitch, because I know I would have. How dare they endanger Stella that way? I kind of understand their beef with you guys, but she's just a baby! Those disgusting little cun-"

A beep sounded on my line, cutting AJ off mid-cuss. "Hold up, baby girl, I have another call coming through. It could be Mac. Stay right there, I'll be back ASAP." I quickly switched the call over before she could object. "Hello?"

"Korbyn? It's Pete."

I hung up and switched back to AJ's line. "You still there, A?"

"Hell yeah. That was quick. Mac butt-dial you or something?"

"No. It was just some slimy cockroach who thought that because he has my number it was okay to call me."

"Oh gross, it was Pete? The fuck's up with that?"

"I don't know, I hung up before he got any real words out."

"Oh giiiirl, you told his ass what's up!"

"Damn right I did. I'm done with him fucking me around, AJ. I can't deal with it any-" beep beep. "Son of a bitch!"

"What now?"

"He's trying to call back! What the fuck is wrong with him, does he have a death wish?!"

"Right, don't bite my head off, but I think you should talk to him. Don't hear him out, fuck no, but at least let him attempt to explain. Then, when he fucks that up, you have a reason to go next door and knock three of his teeth out."

"You want me to give him a chance to explain himself?! Are you kidding?"

"Nope." She popped the 'p.' "Do it. I've gotta go, anyway. Mom wants me to help her bake a cake for Dad's birthday tomorrow while he's bowling with his friends."

"Fine. I'll talk to him. When the fuck did you become Mother Theresa?" I grumbled. _Beep beep_. Go. Away.

"About the same time I accidentally made Dana cry last night and actually felt bad about it," she said breezily.

"Hell, AJ, I never pegged you for the epiphany type. Okay, I'm going. Tell Robert I said happy birthday."

"You got it. I'll see ya in class on Wednesday. Byyyieeeee," she sang, and hung up.

I heaved yet another sigh, waiting for Pete's call to connect. It soon did. "Hi Korbie," Pete's sheepish voice came through.

"It's Korbyn. What do you want?" I said icily.

"Is…is Stella okay?"

"Why the fuck do you care, Pete? You're the fucking reason she might not be!"

"Exactly! Korbyn, you've gotta believe me, we never would have wanted Stella to get hurt! I know we're a bunch of assholes but, Jesus Christ, we're not that evil!"

"I don't give a fuck what you wouldn't have wanted!" I shouted, already losing my cool. "The point is, it happened! You quite obviously heard what Mac said, she nearly swallowed it, Pete! It was unused, lucky for you, but she could have fucking choked! Or what if she'd found out it could stretch, put it over her head and fucking suffocated!? Do you see where I'm going with this?! She. Is. A. Baby!" I looked down at Stella lying next to me on the couch. She'd fallen asleep, her little chest rising and falling instantly, chubby hands clutching the stuffed dog.

"Korb, I'm sorry, I really am, please-"

"No, Pete. For once, I'm not letting you pull the wool over my eyes. You're not sorry. You never are." My voice cracked, along with part of my heart. Woah, wait wait wait. What was going on? _Nooo, Korbie, nooo, you squashed every feeling you had for this boy back in fucking high school_. "You weren't sorry when you left me at the start of college, you weren't sorry for tormenting me all these years, and you're not sorry now! I'm…I'm done with this, Pete. I can't keep playing these games anymore." _You're hurting me more than you ever have before_.

"What do you mean?"

My voice came out flat as I replied, "I thought we could fix us. I thought we had. I made a mistake when I called the cops, and I've apologised so many times for that. You're the one who decided it had to go sour between us again, not me. And even after all these weeks, even though I've been treating you the same way you treat me, I still thought something was salvageable. I was wrong. So this is it. On Friday, I'm moving back to my seat next to AJ and that's where I'm staying. I'll ignore you, you'll ignore me. That's how it's gonna work from now on."

"Korbie, don't be stupid. If- if you want us to try working things out, we can. I mean it, I really am sorry."

"I don't want," I lied, trying not to let the emotion creep into my voice. "And no you're not. So stop saying you are. It wouldn't be enough, anyway. Not anymore."

"Korbie Cat-"

"Goodbye, Pete," I whispered, quickly pressing End Call and shutting off my phone so he didn't call back. It didn't take long for tears to well up and spill over. Trying to be quiet so I wouldn't wake the baby, I dissolved into silent sobs, covering my face with my hands. I didn't count on my legs giving way so I ended up sliding off the couch. I collapsed in a heap on the floor, crying my eyes out over losing my former best friend for the final time.

* * *

Oh God, I so did not want to be here. Thursdays were my off days, for fuck sake. I was supposed to be away from the university. But no, here I was, sitting in between Mac and Kelly in Dean Gladstone's office, across the desk from the Dean herself. Mac and Kelly were trying to report Delta Psi's, um, antics to Gladstone, and they'd decided three witnesses was better than two, so had dragged me along too.

What's worse, they wanted us all to look 'presentable' so I was sitting here in a black skater dress that looked like I'd jacked it from Wednesday Addams' closet, lace tights and black strap courts. My hair was in a half-bun and I had a black velvet choker around my neck. I didn't do formal very often, so it was the same dress I'd worn to my Grandma's funeral. Delightful memories when I was in a foul enough mood as it was.

"They are dangerous to the neighborhood!" Mac was insisting, emphatically slapping his hand on the desk.

"There is a clear focus going on here!" added Kelly.

"I heard they burned down their last house!" Mac continued.

"And they were reprimanded for that," said Gladstone. "We have a very strict 'three strike' policy at this school. Korbyn should know that, she earned Zeta Tau Phi their first one in her freshman year."

"What?!" shouted both Mac and Kelly, looking at me.

"Um...I may or may not have accidentally pushed the gardener into the pool because I thought he was a burglar...and he couldn't swim...and paramedics needed to be called..." I mumbled. "Oh, let it go, I was eighteen, for Christ's sake!"

"So, Delta Psi has one strike. If they get two more, then they're out," Gladstone explained.

"A _strike_?!" Mac repeated incredulously.

"Well listen, the way I do my job is, you know, I'm always thinking about the headlines," said Gladstone. "'Freshman Almost Drowns Gardener' - bad headline. 'Duke Lacrosse Team Rapes Stripper' - worse headline. 'Fraternity Keeps Couple Awake?' That's not really even a headline, I don't even think it would make the local police blotter."

"Dean, please, you don't understand-" I started to say, desperation in my voice, but Mac cut across me.

"Get ready to read the headline of the century! Extra, extra," he spat, slamming the condom Stella had nearly swallowed, which was encased in a plastic bag. "'Baby Swallows Condom!'"

"That's disgusting!" the Dean exclaimed in horror.

"Exactly!" said Kelly, and she and Mac simultaneously announced, "It's the frat's condom!"

"They left it on our front lawn after they decided to trash the yard!" I elaborated.

"I have a headline for this," Gladstone said haughtily. "'Fraternity Practices Safe Sex.' That's a good headline, I could get a raise off that headline."

"I got a headline for you," Mac shot back. "'Mean Dean Doesn't Realise...That Frat Is Bad For...Everyone..." He'd ran out of steam almost as soon as he'd started his sentence, clearly.

"It's really not," she replied, sounding bored now. "It's very poorly worded; I don't think that would ever make it to print. I don't know where you went to school."

"I went here, okay? That's why I'm dumb!" Mac retorted.

"You know what? I just though of another headline," she said coolly. "'Negligent Parents Allow Baby To Swallow Condom.'"

Kelly looked completely dumbfounded at her lack of caring."What you say?"

"It's not a good headline."

Kelly had had enough. "Here's a headline; how about 'Go Fuck Yourself!'"

"Kelly!" I gasped. Oh my God, my status at this university was well and truly fucked up the ass. Suffice to say, it wasn't long until my family and I were ushered from the Dean's office, me almost being slapped with a second strike for Zeta Tau when I wasn't even in the damn sorority anymore.

* * *

"We need to do something about this ourselves," I muttered, sitting cross-legged on Mac and Kelly's bed.

"This is our home!" ranted Kelly. "This is our little cub on our lawn with a condom in her mouth!" She let out a low growl. "Oh my God, I am a mama bear!"

"Yes you are!" agreed Mac.

"You tell 'em, Kel!" I said, nodding.

"You know what? I'm gonna act all docile, and then-" she suddenly lunged forward with a roar, hands positioned like claws.

Mac copied her. "My claws are out! I'm gonna fucking get them! Korbs, you're in, right?"

"Hell yeah, I'm in," I said determinedly. "I am _done_ with this shit!"

"Fuck these fucking guys!" he yelled. "They don't know who they are fucking with! They think, oh, I'm just a regular dad, and then you know what happens?! BOOM, BOOM!" He made a gun motion with his hand. "Teddy's dead! Pete's dead! Scoonie's dead! Fuck you!"

"Mac, I think you need to calm down!" I said hastily, just as Kelly also tried interfering.

"I'll fucking kill them!" he shouted.

"No, no," Kelly said firmly.

"I'm buying a fucking gun!" he declared.

"No you're not!" Kelly affirmed.

"I'm not buying a gun!" Mac suddenly emotionally sobered up. "You're right, it's a bad idea."

"Yeah, a real fucking bad idea," I muttered.

"What about one of those small prostitute guns?" he suggested, so I kicked him in the shin as Kelly repeated, "No. We're not getting a gun."

"Fuck," Mac sighed.

"What can we do?! And that fucking Dean!" Kelly raged. "What woman is named _Dean_?!"

"What? That isn't her name, Kelly, are you serious?!" I said.

"That's her job," added Mac.

"...what?"

"Her job, Kel," I said, rubbing my temples. "'Dean' is what her job is called."

"Really?!" Kelly said, surprised.

"What did you think?" asked Mac.

"I thought that was her name!" Kelly answered.

"What do they call it in Australia?"

"Chancellor."

"No...no, she's the chancellor," Mac explained.

"Oh my God, I was _so _rude to her," Kelly said guiltily.

"Yeah, but, hey, I didn't get expelled so I say that's a win," I said lightly.

"I don't know what to do now," Mac said, defeated.

"What do we _know_?" said Kelly.

"What didn't we have in college?" Mac questioned.

"Well, I for one, have got next to no money," I offered, raising my hand.

"I didn't have any money either," agreed Kelly.

"Neither did I," said Mac.

"So they're broke. They don't have any money," confirmed Kelly.

"I've got it!" Mac said. "We fuck with their house. They can't afford to fix it. They have to move. Fuck them! We are gonna fucking fuck them!"

"So...wait." Kelly frowned. "What can we do to their house that will make it unlivable?"

"I...have got no idea," admitted Mac. "Korb?"

I stood up and looked out of the window, my arms crossed. I scanned the side of the building, my eyes locking on the small window that let light into the basement. Next to it was one of the main water pipes. An evil smirk spread across my lips. "Oh, I know _exactly_ what we can do."

* * *

**A/N- Again, serious apologies for the 'no updates for a year' thing but I'm hoping this marks the end of my writer's block. So please, review! Let me know how you liked my comeback chapter, I love reading your thoughts! Thank you so much, guys, I love you all and thank you for still being here! Xx Gee xX**


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